The Young World
by flustered dreams
Summary: The Neverseen finally waged war on the Lost Cities. When it becomes too violent & unsafe - the elvin world teetering on the edge of mass chaos & ruin - the Councillors make a decision to split the elvin population up into groups & send them off to cities. 3 years later, the gang finds a stress call from Sophie's city -only to arrive & find a different girl from the one they left.
1. Prologue

prologue

* * *

SOPHIE STARED UP AT THE HUGE STAGE, watching the Councillors while wringing her hands so tightly that her skin was becoming ghostly white. The Councillors looked to be about as stressed and nervous as she was - and it was only worrying her more.

It had only been a couple of weeks since the Neverseen had declared war on the Lost Cities and things were starting to amp up quickly. Too quickly. Even Sophie was worried. The Councillors were (obviously), too.

At first they'd tried to ignore the fact that they'd been threatened with the acts of war. They told people there was nothing to worry about and that, just a precaution, everyone should stay in their homes until further notice. Sophie wasn't buying the whole "we're fine" act and was majorly concerned. Her eyelashes suffered those couple of weeks.

Then, one day, they got a scroll at their door telling them there was to be an announcement in Eternlia. Sophie knew right then and there that something was up. She expected the Councillors to keep it secret, but all was answered when she found another scroll waiting the following morning.

And her heart leapt into her throat with the delivered news.

The Neverseen had killed someone.

Murdered.

Granted, Sophie hadn't personally known the person. But she still felt the presence of stinging, salty tears in her eyes.

They slaughtered a five-year-old girl, for heavens sake.

Squished in between the immense amount of elves, she grew paranoid and hot and sticky, continuously tearing out her eyelashes mercilessly. When she finally got a hold of herself and was terrified she had no more eyelashes, she settled for chewing on the tips of her fingernails.

Her heart studded to a complete stop temporarily for a split second when the Councillors - in their regal garb - strode gracefully forward on the stage, their bodyguards right beside them. Emery held up his hands silencing the buzz of the crowd. Finally, it quieted to a point where it didn't sound like they were all trapped in a hornets nest.

Emery rambled on abut thanking everyone for coming at such a stressful time, but that there was no reason to be concerned.

Sophie had to snort to herself at that - a child had just been. . . She couldn't even bear to finish the horrible thought. She couldn't even compare to what the parents were feeling, she sickeningly realized.

Emery gave his greatest condolences to the family who lost their little girl and Sophie felt like she was going to throw up when she heard the mother sobbing so much that the husband had to escort her gently away from the crowd of staring people. He was whispering things in her ear, at least from what Sophie could she. And the woman continued to nod back but still, she wept.

Sophie averted her misty eyes from the heart-wrenching scene, not wanting to put more pressure on the young couple than they had. They were going through a loss right now and the last thing they needed was one more elf - even out of the thousands or millions of others - staring at them. Emery called the attention back to him and once he had every pair of blue eyes (and one brown) in the packed square, he cleared his throat.

"And let us continue on to the final announcement." He paused as if he were adding a dramatic effect, but all it did was make Sophie's insides squirm and her eyebrows furrow angrily. She rubbed the knot of enraged emotions under her rib, wondering if it would be okay for her to inflict on a Councilor just to get him to spit out the words. "We have come to the final decision that we will be regrouping and. . . in the simplest form of words, 'fanning out'."

The crowd began to roar with conversations and worried questions, all wondering what they meant. Emery kept his patience in-tact and waited for the deafening noise to calm down. "We will be splitting you all into groups and for safety, separating you all to separate cities.' The crowd began to start shooting and yelling things Sophie couldn't understand, because all she knew was that it was rambunctious and thundering. Her eardrums were in pain. Emery decided to just shout above the protests. "We understand your concern, but we urge you to listen! Your city groups will be decided by a form of testing, consisting of the same test the Waywards of Exillium had to endure."

Sophie cringed, remembering the Arch of Dividing.

"However, the test will not be exactly the same and will be given in a more efficient way that does not consist of you hanging upside down." He smiled lightly as he said it, like he expected people to laugh. "Those who have already endured the Arch of Dividing and were given a hemisphere, you do not have to participate in this, for you have already been sectioned off." Sophie released the breath she'd been holding, glad to not have to go through that – or even something similar – again.

"There will be four cities – the Ambi District, the Left Region, the Right Sector, and the Talentless Quarter."

Sophie's brows furrowed and the crowd seemed displeased as well. First of all, she'd be away from all her friends and quite possibly her parents, and that didn't really run in her list of Things I Look Forward To Being Forced To Participate In.

Emery continued without care of the blaring, heavy shouting. "Four Councilors will be assigned to each city. This is mandatory, so I resist you not struggle."

With that declaration, the Councilors appeared to be done, as they turned and began filing off the stage. Sophie jumped up. "WAIT!" she screamed, much to her surprise. She turned red when a multitude of elves turned and looked at her.

She pushed through the crowd to the stage, surprised when the Councilors paused to listen. She had to catch her breath before she asked, "Why?"

Emery nodded slowly and raised his hands, silencing the crowd. His voice boomed as he requested, "Could you repeat that?"

She knew somewhere in the crowd her friends were gawking at her. "W-Why?" she repeated, slightly louder.

Emery paced a little on the stage as he replied, "We believe that it will be safer this way. The Neverseen won't be able to accomplish anything such as a mass murdering or even a fire that would kill thousands. This way we will be sectored off and less easy to-"

"So we let them kill us off one by one?" Sophie screeched, blushing harder when she came to the realization she had just blabbered that.

A couple people in the audience agreed.

"No."

"Then what?!" another person asked.

Emery's eyes flashed to the rest of the Councilors before he turned back to the audience. His mouth opened several times before he simply said, "Testing will be held tomorrow throughout the day in any open building. You will be sectioned off and moved to your city by the weekend."

* * *

(A/N:) Just... no


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

* * *

3 ½ YEARS LATER

FITZ SAT UNDER A DENSE DESERT TREE in the cool, luscious shade next to Biana, shielded from the scorching sun. Specks of brittle dust flew in their faces and Biana's chocolate brown hair was whipping in the humid wind.

Biana was nibbling carelessly at a purple fruit and Fitz had the same kind in his hands, but instead of eating it, he tossed it back and forth between his hands, his eyes scanning the desert-like environment around him. She coughed when some sand got in her mouth and Fitz winced when the sand burned in his eyes. "When do you think they'll be here?" Biana asked, clearly at her wits end with the weather.

Fitz sighed and shrugged, taking off his mask for a second to wipe the sand from his eyes. "Honestly? I have no clue."

She shook her head, biting the inside of her cheek. "Great," she grumbled sarcastically. "Just the reassurance I needed to know that we didn't leave the safety of our city for nothing."

"Look, I understand you think the message was a hoax or that it was not a message at all and just some rumor or lie people were spreading, but-"

"But what?" she snapped.

"But why would it?!" he answered sharply, his patience wearing thin. "What could someone possibly gain from spreading something fake like that?"

She made some annoyed sound - kind of like a grunt mixed with a sigh – but was quiet, leaving the awkward sound of the sand blowing around. However many minutes passed before Biana opened her mouth to say something further, but Fitz cut her off. "I think that's them. Is that them?"

Biana squinted through the sand which was blowing around like a snowstorm, making it difficult for her to see. It settled for a second and she watched the two figures in cloaks approaching them. Words failed her for a second, but she managed to squeak, "I think so."

Fitz was squinting to see the figures. "Man, we haven't seen them in years. Are we for sure?"

" _We?_ You asked me. And I said I _think_ ," she pointed out.

It took a couple of minutes–minutes that Fitz personally thought shouldn't be wasted–but the tall figures swallowed by the thick cloaks stood before them. One had their hands shoved in their pockets and Fitz could make out the outline of a smirk underneath the shady hood. Both wore masks, concealing their identities further. Though both were tall, one was a couple inches shorter.

"Finally decided to show up, huh?" Fitz asked.

The one snorted. "You try getting out of the Right Sector undetected, _Wonderboy_."

Biana laughed. "Well, _that_ remark settles who's who."

"Does the Right Sector have security measure lengths or something?" Fitz asked curiously, peeling off is mask. Biana followed and so did the two figures.

Keefe grinned and shook out his sand-filled hair. "Dude, do you know nothing about the Right Sector?"

"Well, I come from the Left Region, so excuse my lack of knowledge on a city that isn't mine."

Dex mumbled something about "haven't seen you both in years" then went on to question, "Does your division not have security measures?"

Fitz shrugged. "Not really. I mean, obviously we have the whole gigantic wall-fence thing surrounding the division/city like all the others do. And we have a few mandatory guards like the rest, but other than that. . ."

"You would not _believe_ the number of towers we had to blow to get out of there," Keefe laughed.

Fitz smirked. "I see your ways haven't changed, even in the span of years we've been apart," he joked.

"Well, ya know, as they say, 'old habits die hard'."

"Apparently," Biana remarked. She looked around. "Where's Sophie?"

Dex frowned. "She didn't meet up with you guys on your way here?"

"No. We thought she found you guys along the way", Biana said at the same time Fitz observed, "You're the one who sent out the message to her division, right?"

"Well, yeah I sent the message. How do you think we all came to meet up?" Dex spat.

Fitz grunted as he stood, brushing the sand off of him. "Obviously not _all_."

Keefe shook his head as he outstretched his hand and helped Biana to her feet. "Do you think the Ambi District banned messages?"

"Well, we aren't exactly supposed to be meeting, and if once the message got there, some person in authority read it before Sophie. . ."

"They could have just trashed it and Sophie wouldn't have even known," Fitz grumbled, running a hand through his hair.

"Plus, didn't those randoms in our division say that the . . . weird stuff going on was in the Ambi District?" Biana suggested.

"Whoa – what weird stuff?" Keefe inquired, holding up his hands, his brows pressing together.

"That's why we're here," Dex answered gruffly. "We wanted to get to the bottom of it. We don't exactly know for sure what's going on in the Ambi District, but we do know that Sophie is in there while it's happening."

Keefe snorted. "So, let me get this straight: Foster's trapped in her crazy division and now we have to bail her out?"

"Before it's too late," Dex finished.

Biana crinkled her nose. "It's so weird to hear you call her that."

"What? Foster?"

"Yeah," she clarified. "It's so weird to just . . . be here with you all in general."

Fitz shook his head. "We don't have time for reminiscence. We have to get to the Ambi District and it's a pretty long walk."

Keefe rolled his eyes. "Way to kill the mood. We haven't seen one another in, like, three years. Let up a little, would you?"

"And leave her there?" he growled darkly.

"Whoa, _no_ , geez. I just meant can't we at least have a little reminiscence as we walk?"

"Fine. Have reminiscence as we walk. But let's get going."

* * *

"OKAY, THE COUNCILORS SERIOUSLY COULDN'T have just tried to put the divisions a _tad_ bit closer?" Keefe complained.

"Well, they didn't want the Neverseen to do anything like mass murdering or being able to just bomb us off all at once," Fitz explained.

Biana shivered. "I'm so glad that whole thing over."

"You and me both," Dex agreed.

They had already been ambling and trudging through the sandstorm for however long and it went back to the sound of familiar silence. For a span of minutes they seemed to ignore the presences of one another, before Keefe spoke up. "Care to tell let me in on the rumors?"

Fitz gave a gruff sigh before he relented and answered, "A few randoms in our division started spreading gossip about the Ambi District a couple of weeks ago. Said that the whole city has gone downhill."

"How so?" Keefe asked, hacking the dry sand from his lungs. Biana followed in the action. Then she interjected Fitz before he could answer. "They said there wasn't much food left there and that there were tons of rabid, wild dogs and unauthorized deals going around. Said there were randoms who'd gone nuts and others who banded out into rebel groups in the uptown region of the city and drove everyone out, claiming that part of the city was theirs."

"There have also been some stories that some people have died," Fitz addressed softly, swallowing thickly. He tried to keep the visions back, but he couldn't help the gory image that flooded through his head of Sophie dead on some random street, blood spilling out on the ground, her flesh rotting. . .

"Let's hope Sophie was fortunate," Dex croaked in a hushed voice.

Everybody mumbled their agreements.

From there on out, no one could find the words to lighten the bitter mood that hung in the air. The sand coated their tongues with a sour, dusty, vulgar taste that seemed to be perfectly complimenting their sorrowful moods. Every hour the group would take a small break wherever they could find some tree or dead shrub or somewhere at least slightly fit for a rest. The dry, barren land didn't exactly scream "nice".

"I didn't know the whole land had shriveled up while we were locked away in those cities," Biana confessed wistfully, staring at a dead plant as they continued on through the hot weather.

"Me neither."

Another spell of silence before Keefe yelled, "Holy T. Rex, that's it!"

Everyone risked their eyes getting filled with sand to glimpse up to find a colossal sized wall made up of barbed wire and metal and gray stone bricks before them, surrounding a city in a wide-span circular shape. "Where do we go, now?" Biana yelled over the roaring wind.

"Find the front gate!" Fitz called back.

"Should we split up and each go one way around the building? Either way, then we'll meet up eventually."

They stood still as the wind calmed for a second. "I think the wind is going to die down for a bit. We're around the back, so. . ."

"So we do split up and meet each other at the entrance?" Biana clarified.

"I guess so."

Keefe clapped his hands together. "Alright, let's do it, then. We'll get in, get Foster, and leave with a couple of explosions."

Dex rubbed his forehead like the very thought gave him a headache. "We are going to get murdered when we go back to the Right Sector, you do know that, correct?" he barked at Keefe.

"For what?"

"We blew up half of the watch towers!"

" _And_? They were asking for it. They wouldn't let us out. Honestly, they should have seen a couple of explosions coming."

Dex and Keefe's argument faded as they walked further and further away and soon disappeared around the one side of the wall. "C'mon," Fitz invited, waving his hand toward the opposite direction. "We'll go this way."

Biana followed, babbling incoherent nonsense to herself.

"You okay?" Fitz probed, concerned.

"Could be better," she confessed. "But really? This is the most calm I've been in years. It's just Sophie, right?"

"No, you _do_ have a reason to be jittery," Fitz admitted. "I'm not sure if the guards will let us in or let us see her. Or they could put us in jail or turn us in to our divisions."

"And here I thought I could confide in you and trust you'd make me feel better," she teased.

"Whoops."

Biana laughed. A few minutes later, they rounded the wall and found the vast, towering iron gate. Dex and Keefe had beaten them there and were standing in front of the gate. Keefe's hands were on two bars and he was spewing an angry stream of words to someone on the other side. Dex was running his hands along the bars and sporting a rather good death glare. He adjusted his mask on his face and crossed his arms.

"Finally, they arrive," Keefe grumbled, turning towards the Vackers as soon as he got a moment to pause in his complaints to the mystery person. "Mind helping us with _them_?"

Fitz looked at Biana and then they both approached the bars. On the other side was an extravagant gateway arch that led into the city. Two elves were posted on either side of the stone arch, looking rather burly and tough, sporting some scars on their faces and arms. One was a female, the other male.

They wore the same black leather clothes as the rest of the Ambi, and each had at least a hint of royal purple thrown in somewhere. For some it was their shoelaces, others socks, some a random scarf or ascot, buttons, etc.

Up against the iron gate blocking Fitz, Biana, Dex, and Keefe from the arch was a man with creamy brown skin and dark, short hair. Well, he wasn't a man. Maybe about eighteen-nineteen, but his height made him look a couple years older.

He had a black leather jerkin on and black pants, black heavy steel-toed boots and denim blue eyes. His hint of royal purple in his outfit consisted of some weird eyepatch over his left eye. They were surprised to see he didn't wear a cape or cloak or even some hood, along with the absence of a mask. But his eyepatch _would_ seem weird with a mask over the top.

"Perhaps you'd like to explain to me why you request entry to our city?"

Keefe kicked a rock angrily and looked at the Vackers. "See? This guy is _aggravating_! I've already told him why we _'request entry'_." He mocked the man's voice in a whiny tone, nothing compared to his actual gravelly voice that sounded rough like he'd taken a bucket of the sand that was outside and ate it for breakfast.

He chuckled darkly back to two guys who stood about a foot behind him, arms crossed. Fitz could see the guards at the arch had smirks tug at their lips. "And why would you simply be her to _see a friend_?" he asked Keefe. "You're not even supposed to be here, as I recall the rules saying."

"Then get someone here whom we can. . . Speak to. Discuss this with. Someone in charge," Biana begged. "How about one of the Councilors?"

He burst into laughter like it was the most hilarious thing ever. The rest of the people around him joined in and were practically dying. Biana frowned and Dex, Keefe, and Fitz were just as confused. What was so funny about the mentioning of the Councilors?

Once the guy had gotten a grip, he asked, "How about you settle for the Commander?"

"Yes!" she exclaimed. "The Commander. Sure! Please! We just need to get-"

The man held up his hands. "Whatever. You want the Commander, you save the talk for the Commander. And I suggest you have what you want to say ready. He is not a patient man."

He spun swiftly on his heel and stalked off through the arch and into the city. The four elves eyed the quartet outside the gate suspiciously, but stayed silent. It was like an uncomfortable, intense staring contest. Or maybe it would be known as a _glaring_ contest from the way everyone's eyes were narrowed dangerously.

Fitz, Keefe, Dex, and Biana straightened up when the guy strode back through the arch, another elf a couple strides behind. He was shorter by far, but he was just as intimidating.

He wore the same dark pants everyone else did, but these were tighter and more fit than others. His feet were adorned with heavy boots with royal purple laces and his whole torso was covered with a long thick cloak. The hood was up and covered their head, casting a shadow over their face and he wore silky black gloves. The mask they had on concealed their identity further, but Fitz could make out deep gray-blue eyes.

"Sup, Cheekbones? Nothing? Good." Fitz gaped at Keefe and smacked him on the back, trying to prevent him from continuing. Keefe was annoyed and Fitz could tell. He didn't want him to somehow get them sentenced to jail or exile or whatever. Fitz looked back at the man and he could see why Keefe had called the mystery guy "Cheekbones". He had a sharp, defined bone structure and high cheekbones. "So, listen here," Keefe continued. "We want into your city simply to pay a visit to a friend, that's all. You let us in, we talk to her, and we're out! Okay? Great!"

From faint upward curved lines in the shadows, Fitz could tell that Cheekbones had smirked from under his hood. "And who might you be?"

"Greatest person you've ever met," Keefe answered.

He chuckled, not amused. "Good to know."

"We're not looking for trouble," Dex began. "It's literally just a quick check-in."

"Please," Biana begged.

Cheekbones stayed silent. "I'm sensing there's a little more to the story than you're giving to me. You tell me you're motives behind this visit and you can see your friend."

They all exchanged wide-eyed looks.

"So, is that a no?" Cheekbones taunted.

"No," Fitz snapped. "We'll tell you." He ignored the confused, ticked off expressions of _'what the heck?!'_ from Biana, Dex, and Keefe. He crossed his arms and stared Cheekbones down where he guessed the dude's eyes would be. "But we'll only tell you in private. No one else hears."

Purple Eyepatch Guy spoke up. "Commander, if I may suggest-"

Cheekbones held up his hand. "Shut up, White. I can handle a bunch of Level Ones."

Keefe rolled his eyes. "Dude, that is, like, _the_ lamest insult."

White balled his fist and pointed a finger at Keefe. "You will learn not to speak with such disrespect to our Commander or the consequences will be _dire_."

Cheekbones snapped his fingers and White unballed his fists and stepped back. "Your request is granted," he revealed. "You will tell me your motives behind sealed doors. No one else hears. You see your friend; you get out of my city by sundown. Are we clear?"

Fitz's mouth ran dry in surprise. He hadn't really expected the commander to take the deal. Biana nudged him and he cleared his throat. "Uh, clear. Yeah. We're clear."

Cheekbones nodded and White smirked. "Here comes the fun part. White, do the honors?"

White turned around, cupped his hands and shouted something upwards. Only then did Keefe, Dex, Biana, and Fitz notice the selective trio of people on the roof. They obeyed the command to open the gate and started cranking some tool while the gate screeched open. They didn't bother opening it all the way, just enough so they could all squeeze through the small gap before the group on top of the arch closed it again.

White rustled around in his pockets and strung out a couple of royal purple scarves. "Blindfold time."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Dex objected, backing up. "Who said anything about _blindfolds_?"

"Yeah, dude. It's not exactly considered cool to just randomly spring that on someone and go, _'oh, by the way - blindfolds!'_."

"You are not permitted to see where we are headed," Cheekbones clarified.

"Then how do we know we're not getting walked into a jail cell?"

Cheekbones smiled. "That's half the fun of it, though, isn't it? It's like a big surprise."

"We're not agreeing to this unless we know where we're going," Fitz warned.

Cheekbones shrugged. "Then I guess the deal's off. Get out of my city."

Fitz glared. "At least tell us verbally where we are going."

Cheekbones swung his hand around, making a loop in the air. "Somewhere. Now, do we still have a deal? Or are you leaving?"

"Oh, no, we're staying," Dex snapped.

Cheekbones nodded. "Huh. . . Alright. Tie 'em, White. And may the Ambi ever be in your favor."

* * *

"THIS PLACE SMELLS. . . DISTURBING," Keefe noted as they were led through the Ambi District streets. Fitz could hear whispers and sounds of footsteps as he was led by a rather rough teenage girl through his blindfolded trek.

Keefe was right about the smell: the city was tainted with the scent of burning plastic and rotting flesh. _Not_ a good combination.

He could hear his boots clunky footsteps on the cobblestone streets as he blindly walked, along with his friends and their "escort". He heard the pop and crackle of fire and he could hear a weird scraping sound like someone was stirring a spoon on a bowl. He heard some sort of fabric whipping in the wind and he concurred it wither had to be some clothes drying on a clothes line, or some flags flying in the gusts of powerful wind. He could hear something sizzling and bubbling and suddenly he was hit with a whiff of intoxicating, delicious smells. His stomach growled.

The girl dragging him by the arm laughed. "Suppose you were dumb enough to trek here without food?"

"No, actually," he shot back, struggling when she drug him harder. "I had some fruit a couple miles back."

"Mhmm. . ."

Now that he thought about it, he remembered he _hadn't_ ate it. Biana had eaten some of hers, but _he'd_ been so caught up in looking out for Keefe and Dex so he spent the whole time tossing it around. Dang it.

He nearly fell flat on his face when his boot smacked the edge of something hard. The girl laughed. "Oops. Guess I forgot to tell you we were about to climb some stairs."

"Ya think?"

He stifled many bothered complaints about this little "journey" as he struggled to find his way up the stone stairs. He heard some doors creak open when he reached the top of the stairs and soon he felt his booted feet sink into something a little softer. Carpet. Doors closed behind him and the sound of the people buzzing through the streets left him.

He was led somewhere again until he went through one last door. He felt the girl's hand release its snake-like hold on his arm as he heard Cheekbones say, "You may leave us all."

The doors slammed closed and the sound echoed around the room. "You're allowed to take the blindfolds off, now. We're here."

He heard the rustle of fabric and knew his friends were already working at untying the scarves from over their eyes. Fitz began to do the same.

When the blindfold fell from his eyes, he winced and squeezed them shut when bright light burned his corneas.

"Let them adjust," Cheekbones advised. "You'll be good soon."

"Yeah. I'll be good once I get an eye transplant," Keefe whined, rubbing his eyes. "I think you made me go blind."

Cheekbones snorted. "Sure."

Fitz let his eyes adjust and once everything came into focused, he found he was in a huge, circular room. The circular room was lined with tons or rows of chairs like bleachers and in the middle there was a huge desk with a lifted platform behind it, in which some chairs were seated on.

"Are we in some weird court room?"

"Kind of, yeah. I rather like to call it my office," Cheekbones replied, drawing his attention to him. He was sitting on top of the huge desk and they were in the center of the room before it. "But back to the reason why we're here."

He pulled a silver medler from inside the cloak and started spinning around on his finger by trigger. He grinned when they looked shocked. "Just for extra security measures. After all, I am alone in a room with four others. I don't know what you could try."

"Listen, like you said, we're here to tell you our 'motives', we see our friend, and we go." Fitz decided to leave out the part about taking Sophie with them when they left.

Cheekbones nodded and his hood flapped. "Then get talking."

"We came here because, obviously, we haven't seen our friend in years. We used to be really close before the war pulled us all apart." He swallowed when Cheekbones made some sound of disapproval - almost like he grunted while clearing his throat. "If you made me drag you here and raise suspicion among the residents just trying to go about their everyday lives just to try and sell me some sob story, I _will_ shoot you."

"I wasn't done!" Fitz shouted, holding out his hands in peace when Cheekbones raised the medler. "We also heard some things over in our division that things over hear weren't going well, so we were worried she'd been hurt."

Cheekbone raised a brow. "She?"

Fitz hesitantly looked to Keefe, Dex, and Biana. "Yeah," Dex answered.

Cheekbones slowly lowered his weapon. He sighed. "Still sounds like a sob story," he muttered. "Who are you looking for?"

"Sophie," Biana said. "Sophie Foster."

Cheekbones was silent.

Fitz heart thudded in his chest. She couldn't be. . ?

 _No_.

Cheekbones sighed. He started out slowly, "I. . ." He paused. "I"-he pulled back his hood-"have not been called that in a _very_ long time."

* * *

(A/N:) CLIFFHANGER!


	3. Chapter 2

R.R

thelittlepurplepuffball: I actually have never seen or read the Hunger Games :(. But thanks! :D

ChickenLuv8: They are depressing ;)

Guest: *gasp* SO YOU HATE ME?! *tears well in eyes* *eyes grow large like a Beanie Boos* *neighbors call 911 for they fear that I am unwell*

* * *

Chapter 2

* * *

SOPHIE FROZE AND HER VOICE FAILED her when they mentioned her name. Well, her old name, at least. She hadn't been called that in. . . .

She almost let her real voice slip past her fake mimicked one as she croaked, "I. . ." They stared at her with concerned and confused expressions written on their faces and so, she gained her composure and held her hand on her hood. "I" -she pulled off her hood- "have not been called that in a _very_ long time."

As they gaped, she slipped off the cloak and let it fall gracefully to the ground as she folded her hands together in front of her stomach. She moved her feet together and stood straightened to her full height on the higher-leveled stage in front of them.

She wore a black leather vest with no arms, showing off her lack of a 'rack'. It was partway unbuttoned down the front' causing it to have a V-neck shape. Her black fitted pants clung to her legs and the two sets of pockets on each of her thighs jutted out. The royal purple leather belt on her hips held a hilt for her meddler as well as a small bottle: her emergency allergy remedy.

Her blonde hair hung to her shoulders, bleached a couple of shades lighter and her lips had fine lines on them and were cracked and dry. She had a white scar that ran all the way along her left cheekbone and she had darker, longer eyelashes than before. She'd only grown about an inch or two, but she was definitely taller. The mardi-gra style mask on her face went so far as to even cover the top of her nose in a pointed way and had two purple gems on either side of her eyes, which showed fade symptoms that hadn't yet been treated: there were many white and light gold flecks lighting up the hot chocolate brown like a chaotic snow globe.

She tugged off her enhancing gloves, revealing little tattooed rings on her fingers that looked like mini branches of thorns serving as mid-finger rings. On her right arm, there were three tattoos like little armlets, circling her small bicep. They were selective lines that made up the Lodestar symbol: so they had to be dates that were important to her. On her neck there was a vine tattoo–with ruffled panakes flowers peppered on it–that looked like a choker.

"Who's looking for me?" she asked in a serious tone, and her real voice.

Keefe gaped. "Cheekbones . . . is Sophie. . ."

She nodded and pulled back on her gloves, pointing the medler at them and fingering the trigger. "Who are you and why were you looking for me?" she repeated, eyes narrowing.

She watched as they all pulled back their hoods and peeled off their masks, letting their own cloaks drop to the floor. Her hands lowered the medler down until it was pointing at the ground. "I think. . . I'm hallucinating. . ." she whispered. "You look so . . . different. And your voices. . ."

"Sorry, but no." Fitz smiled. "You're not hallucinating."

"It's us, in the flesh and blood," Dex confirmed.

Sophie muttered something to herself and then cursed under her breath. She jammed the medler into its hilt. "You have to go. All of you. _Now_."

She jumped off the little stage in front of them. "It's not safe here."

"No 'hi'?" Keefe teased. "No takin' off the mask?"

" _You_ need to put your mask back _on_ ," she scolded.

Biana frowned. "Wait, Sophie. You're serious?"

She laughed, but not happily. "Yes, I'm serious." She grabbed her cloak from off the floor and started shrugging it on. "And it's not Sophie. Now, c'mon. I can get you back to the gate without White or anyone suspecting anything too much if we go through-"

Fitz grabbed her arm and she jumped, shoving him off. "Don't touch me."

His eyes narrowed. "You've changed. That was self-defense. Why do you have to be so on alert?"

"I told you: _It's not safe_."

" _What's_ not safe?" Dex asked.

"This," she replied. "This city. Our division. It's not safe anymore. Which is why _you_ all have to go back to your _own_ divisions. As much as I loved the blast from the past, you're leaving."

"No, we're not," Fitz snapped.

She chuckled darkly. "Excuse me?" She came forward and jabbed a finger in his chest. "This is _my_ city and if I tell you you're leaving, _you're leaving_."

"And what's up with that?" Keefe asked. "Commander and everything, I mean. I don't get it. _Your_ city? No offense meant, Foster, I just. . . What about the Councilors?"

She shook her head and all she did was mumble, "Not safe, not safe, not safe."

Fitz remembered how White and his buddies had laughed near the gates when they'd mentioned the Councilors. "I need some explanations, Sophie," Fitz said. "People in our districts have been rambling some pretty messed up-"

"I know!" she snapped, cutting him off. "I know, _okay_? It's messed up! Everything's _messed up_!"

"Foster, calm down," Keefe soothed. "Your emotions are, like, _spiky_. It feels like you're zapping me with electricity. Just. . . Chill."

"That's _not_ my name, Keefe!" she announced. " _Okay_? Okay. _That's not my name!_ You guys"-she pointed to all of them-"don't know me, anymore. All right? I've c _hanged_. Just accept that and get with the fact that I'm trying to save your butts!" she shouted.

"From _what_?!" Biana yelled.

"Everything!" she screamed back. " _Everything_ , okay?! The whole division is in chaos! There are wild dogs, a rebel gang, toxic smoke, flash fires, low food and water supplies, randoms who've gone nuts and just. . . I don't know, don't care anymore! There's drug dealers, banditos, berserkers, rageaholics, alcoholics, the Sickness–"

"The what?" Dex asked.

"The _Sickness_ ," Sophie repeated. She frowned and stopped numbering off the problems on her fingers when they stared at her oddly. "Are your districts not infected with the Sickness?" she asked. They stayed silent. "Does the word 'Pocky' mean anything? The E? Enilikoskotonic?"

"What are all of those?" Keefe asked.

She swallowed thickly. "D-Different names for the Sickness," she stuttered softly. "E-Enilikoskotonic is the science term for it. . . Do you guys really not know what that is?" she asked quietly, her voice hushed and haunted as her skin became pale. She wrung her gloved fingers together and chewed on her lip.

"No, we don't know what it is," Keefe said. "So what _is_ it?"

She shook her head as if coming out of a trance. She massaged her temples for a second. "Um, I, uh. . . Are you hungry?"

"What?" Fitz asked at the same time Biana answered, "I wouldn't mind a little something. . ."

She smiled, but it seemed forced. "I'll get you guys something. A-And I'll find you some rooms in the hotel."

"What?"

"I have some news for you. . ." she said. "Just. . . trust me. Okay? Everything. . . Everything is fine."

"I recall you telling us not moments ago everything was messed up," Keefe pointed out.

She nodded. "Excuse my choice of words." She flipped up her hood and made sure her mask was on nicely. "We're going to be walking through the streets and I'd like to keep the fact that you are from different districts a secret from the locals, understood?"

They all nodded in a flurry, putting their masks back on and flopping their hoods over their heads.

"We'll be going through the heart of the city to get to the hotel where we can get you a couple of rooms and some new clothes. From now on, you are Ambi. The reason you have never been seen is because you've been in quarantine because of a contagious skin disease your whole lives that was recently cleared. You were one of my Impatients and I never-"

"Impatients?"

She smiled. "Patients, I mean. I just call them my Impatients. Not too many people these days are patient."

"Whoa, wait," Keefe cut in. "Are you a doctor?"

"One of them, yes."

"That's. . . something new," Biana observed.

She laughed lightly as she pulled her blonde hair so that it was concealed in her hood. "I take more of the worst cases. Patients who've broken bones or got burns: things like that. I think I have the stomach for it because I've wound up in those situations way too many times."

They all smiled softly.

Then she was serious again. "Now, here are the rules," she said as she led them toward the huge oak doors. "Head down, don't make eye contact, don't talk to anybody, and don't _engage_ anybody. And most important of all, _don't make anybody angry_."

"Why–"

"Do. You. Hear. Me? Do _not_ under _any_ circumstances make anyone angry. People here have a short fuse nowadays. You will not like the consequences if you enrage them. _Are we clear_?"

They all nodded.

She blew out the breath she'd been holding. "Welcome home, Ambis." She pushed open the doors.

WHITE AND HIS LITTLE GANG MET THEM RIGHT outside the doors. They walked into a huge open library, the whole thing made of polished oak. The floors were a dark, olive green carpet and the shelves were filled with thick, colorful, dusty volumes.

White bowed. "Hello, Commander."

"At ease, White," she answered, much to his surprise–and Keefe, Dex, Biana, and Fitz's–in her real voice.

He frowned at her friends. "Have I missed something?"

"They're allowed to know. It's fine," she answered. White still seemed reluctant, so she added, "Old friends."

She looked at White and the other rough-looking teens. "From here on out the story is that they were under quarantine and have not been in contact with anyone because of a contagious skin disease they had since birth. They were recently cleared and are no longer my Impatients. And I never mentioned them because I was never asked. You were the only ones who "knew". Got that?"

White, the two ladies, and the two males all nodded.

"Good. You will assist me in escorting them to the Downtown hotel."

"Which one?"

"The one with my HC."

"Understood."

"Thank you."

"HC?" Biana asked curiously.

She turned around to face her. "Ask Keefe. He knows what that is. He's been there with me _many_ times."

Keefe's brow puckered and it even shifted his mask a little. He snapped his fingers when realization seemed to dawn. "Healing Center?"

"Well, look at you. . ." she marveled.

She turned back to White and the male and female teenagers. "Unless anybody asks, you don't tell them anything about my friends' new story, understood? We don't want to come off too desperate to share it. . . Might give us away."

"Wouldn't plan on doing anything otherwise, Commander."

"Your cooperation is greatly appreciated."

She turned back to her friends. "From now on, I'm a guy, okay?"

They nodded. "All right."

"Oh, and one more thing," she said. "When I'm a girl again, my name is Liz. But special people call me Libby."

* * *

"LIZ AND LIBBY ARE DERIVED FROM Elizabeth, aren't they?" Keefe whispered in her ear as they walked the streets, their heads downcast. "Your middle name?"

"My _old_ middle name. _Now_ it's my first name," she whispered back in her deep, mimicked voice.

"Your girl first name," Dex pointed out, butting in on the conversation. "What's your guy first name?"

She grumbled under her breath at the multitude of people staring. "Let's discuss my identities when we get to the hotel, shall we?"

"But what if we somehow have to say your guy name in front of people, to, like, sell this?" Keefe countered softly.

"And _why_ would we have to do that?"

"He has a point," Fitz added in a low-tone.

She grumbled again. "Biana will be here in three, two, one. . ."

"You called?"

"I'm waiting until we get to the hotel," she answered sharply under her breath. "Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, sir," Keefe said teasingly. "And, dude, that voice is _totally_ freaky."

" _You're_ freaky," she muttered back.

"Sure, Foster. Sure. . ."

They wound down the cracked cobblestone streets, trying to best ignore the stares from the locals. Above them, in small alleyways, tarps hung from building-to-building, keeping out pigeon feces and algae-encouraging sun. They came to a four way street with a fountain in the middle. There were tons of pictures around it mounted up along with an assortment of candles which were both burning and burnt out, flowers–dead and alive, and little knickknacks, keychains, random candies, and a couple pairs of shoes. Sickeningly, Fitz, Keefe, Biana, and Dex realized that these people–these people in these pictures–were dead.

"Just a small tribute to honor them. We don't exactly have a graveyard anymore," Sophie whispered to them.

Keefe covered his mouth with his hand and he made a sound like he was going to throw up. "Please tell me I don't think that's why this place smells like rotting flesh."

Sophie sighed. "The Uptowners–the little rebel group–keep the bodies. They're on the other side of town, on a pile. The bodies, not the Uptowners," she clarified.

"I'm going to throw up!" Biana warned quietly.

"You will _not_ throw up," Sophie whispered–and it sounded like an order. "Don't. Draw. Suspicion!"

"Trying," she groaned.

They passed by what must have used to been a park for kids, but was now a garden filled with rows and rows of vegetables.

"One of our food supplies," Sophie explained. She hissed in disapproval and annoyance when multiple workers tending the crops turned. "We need to move faster."

They ducked and dove and dodged past people and behind tall buildings swerving here and there, their feet shuffling as they struggled to get past the crowds. Sophie blew out the breath she was holding in when they reached the massive hotel's doors. "Quickly, inside," she ushered, gratefully nodding when White held open the door.

They walked past the main lobby to find tons of elves on the couches. There were some younger kids in the play area, messing with weird metal trinkets and then the older teenagers were sitting on the furniture and chatting. Some held bandaged appendages, others had sickly pale skin, and there were even some who were conked out and snoring.

Sophie pulled them swiftly past and to the flight of stairs they had to climb. "We've got to go up quite a few floors," she warned, taking off her cloak and cradling it in her arms. "So, let's get moving."

"Permission to depart?" White asked as Sophie started racing up the stairs with her old friends. She nodded. "Thank you, White."

White saluted and so did his other minions. They left out the metal door as Sophie barreled up the stairs.

"How many flights exactly do we have to go?" Keefe whined.

"Eh. . . To the top," Sophie answered.

"Do you do this every day?"

"Naturally. I _live_ upstairs."

* * *

ONCE SOPHIE GOT TO THE TOP FLOOR, SHE showed Fitz, Biana, Dex, and Keefe to some empty rooms they could stay in, and then departed to her own. She'd gotten it so that she and Fitz, Biana, Dex, and Keefe's rooms were all in one long row, connected to each other by doors.

She throws her heavy cloak on a hanger and pries off her mask, loving the cool feel of air blowing on the skin that had been covered all day. She entered the bathroom and squirted out some soap from a bottle near the sink, breathing in the smell of lavender. It was _nice_.

She scrubbed all up her arms with the soap, cleaning out the cuts on her arms. She struggled to get her arms under the faucet and wash them off, but she made do. Next she began to run the water in the bathtub, shivering when she felt the cold temperature. It was always cold-it wasn't like they had any heaters that were working-but it still surprised her every time.

She peeled off her filthy, sweat-filled clothes from her dirty body and stared at her reflection in the mirror after unraveling her hair from her ponytail. With her scar on her cheek and her boyish chest to her dry lips, she didn't exactly look picture ready. She frowned. She'd never really felt that great about her appearance when she first came to the Lost Cities, but this was a whole different side. She traced her finger along her choker tattoo and turned around in the mirror, glancing back at the rest of it.

The vine tattoo attached to another one rolling its way down her spine and ending in a clump of ruffled panakes flowers. She sighed, looking away and putting a foot in the bathtub.

She seethed as her body was hit with a load of shivering, her teeth chattering instinctively from the ice cold water.

She swung her other foot over the outside of the tub and plopped herself down in the water, gasping at how the water stung against her skin and it felt like little needles were being stabbed into her. Her shivers grew immensely and she _swore_ it probably looked like she was having a seizure.

She washed up as swiftly as possible, scrubbing all the grime and dirt off her skin and out of her hair, relishing the feel of being _clean_ again.

She cursed when she found a tick in her tangled mess of knots she called hair. She _hated_ ticks.

She ripped it off of her scalp and cringed at how it wiggled in her fingers, part of her scared that it would bite into the flesh of the tip of her finger.

She flung it into the water and sprang up, jumping out of the tub. She popped the stopper out of the drain and watched the water swirl around it until the tick was sucked down the drain with the last remaining bit of water.

She blew out her breath and grabbed a fluffy white towel, wrapping her body in it. She wrung out her hair and left the bathroom, hopping onto her bed.

She was tired beyond belief. He muscles were sore and she had a headache and it felt like her brain was going to explode with everything that had happened today.

Slowly, she fell into a deep slumber.


	4. Chapter 3

R.R

thelittlepurplepuffball: I'm glad! Here it is!

ChickenLuv8: Lol. Stop making me laugh X'D

keeper-fan-to-the-max: Thank you so much!

Waves-Of-Writing: Sophie's hardcore X)

* * *

Chapter 3

* * *

SOPHIE AWOKE WITH A JOLT, her leg kicking off her covers. She shivered at the cold feel of moist fabric underneath her cheek and sat up, running her hand across her to pillow to find it was wet. She felt the top of her head to find her hair was still damp from her bath.

Her mind flashed to unspoken horrors. "Just another dream," she whispered as if to assure herself. "All a dream. . ."

Recently, she'd been having way too many nightmares about the Sickness than she could count. It was getting out of hand. But she couldn't find a way to get the revolting images out of her head. No matter what she tried, she just couldn't stop having repetitive dreams about herself and the ones she loved becoming infected and dying.

She pushed her body up an out of bed, stretching her muscles and grabbing a royal purple cloth of the table. She wrapped her hair up into a knot with it and shook out of her fluffy towel, and covered herself in an equally fluffy bath robe. She tied it around her waist and went to the first door of the long conjoined room she set up with her friends, knocking on the white-painted wood.

She _really_ was hoping she hadn't slept all night, and now it was morning, and she'd left them all alone for the entire-

Sophie jumped when Fitz opened the door and she clutched her chest.

"Whoa, sorry," he apologized, laughing. "Didn't mean to scare you."

"No," she said. "I should've been expecting it. I mean, _I_ knocked. I was just so caught up in my thoughts and. . . It happens a lot," she murmured.

He had clearly just got out of the shower himself, as his hair was wet and plastered to his forehead, and his lower half was wrapped in one of those fluffy white towels. His bare chest was on display and she was trying her best to keep her eyes locked with his-even if that was more awkward.

He looked a little flushed. "Sorry," he mumbled, running over and grabbed his own bathrobe and slipping it over the top. "Better?" he asked.

"Oh, I didn't mean to make you. . . I don't know. You really didn't have to-"

She paused, her cheekbones and tips of her ears flustered pink at how that sentence would have sounded, had she fully finished it. She cleared her throat. "Yeah."

"Well, uh. . . Come in?" he invited awkwardly.

She nodded and entered, then closed the door behind her. "I just wanted to see how you were doing. I fell asleep for a little while there-"

"A little?" he chuckled, letting out a snort with it. "You've been conked out for hours!"

She was sure her face was the color of a fire truck. "Please tell me you're kidding!"

"No," he said, still laughing. "We even tried to wake you up."

She was literally _dying_ of embarrassment. She _needed_ to find a hole to crawl into so she could hide her shame. "I was in a towel. . ." she slowly pointed out. "And you all tried to wake me up. . ."

He cleared his throat abruptly. "Yeah, well, anyways. . ." He looked up at her from his spot on the end of his bed. She was leaning against the wall near the conjoined door, staring at her feet. "You're not wearing your mask," he observed, making her head snap up.

"Oh, uh. . . Mmhmm. Is. . . Is that a problem? I can go and, well, put it back on if-"

"I wasn't saying that," he announced. "I just. . . Haven't seen your face. . . Like, your _face_ in _years_. It's kinda. . . weird."

She tried not to take that comment as offense.

"That was meant in the best way, of course," he made clear, almost as if he had read her thoughts. The corners of her mouth twitched down and she held her head.

"What?" he asked.

"I forgot you could do that," she admitted.

"Do what?"

"Get past my blocking."

Fitz held up his hands. "Oh, I didn't. I swear."

She nodded slowly, shoving her hands in her robe's pockets. She looked up at the clock on the wall. "You're right. I slept for hours. It's nighttime. I'm sorry," she apologized.

"No, really, it's okay. I knew you were tired."

She looked awkwardly at the floor. "Well, maybe I should get to checking on, uh. . . Biana? Is that who's next door?"

Fitz nodded. "But. . . you still owe me some answers."

Her brows puckered. "Answers to what?"

"My questions, of course."

"Oh. . . Sure. What are they?"

"Well, about what you said before. . . The E? Enil. . ?"

She swallowed so hard it felt like she was chugging of bucket of ice. "Enilikoskotonic?" she offered shakily.

"Precisely. What does that mean?"

She opened her mouth several times, but words never seemed possible to come out. He frowned and patted beside him on the bed. "Why don't you sit? Maybe that would help."

"Oh no, I'm good."

"Come on, Soph–uh– _Liz_."

She sighed through her nose and waddled over, sitting down next to him. "Enilikoskotonic is the Sickness. People on the street call it Pocky."

"And. . ?" he prodded gently.

"And. . . It's killed a lot of people," she whispered. "And that's why I wanted you all to go. I don't know if you're infected, now." She stood abruptly. " _I'm_ infected. You really shouldn't be near–"

"You're infected?" he gawked. "Sophie, that's serious." He cursed. "Sorry, dang it. _Liz_. Libby. Whatever. Sorry," he babbled, running a hand through his hair.

A couple moments of silence fell upon them. "Is there a cure?" he asked in a hushed tone.

She bit the inside of her lip and wrung her hands. "No, not yet."

"So. . . you think there is a cure?"

She snorted. "I hope. I hope there is a cure," she corrected. "And if there is one, I'll. . . I'm going to be gone before we get it, most likely."

"How?"

"Fitz, we haven't even got near some sort of small breakthrough to do so much as stop the symptoms! We haven't even been able to _slow_ or _numb_ them! And it's been _three years_! I'm fully infected! I've been in the city too long. And once I start to show the symptoms, I'll be dead within the same 24 hours!" she ranted angrily. She caught herself and tried to calm her temper. 'I'm sorry," she said, in her normal volume. "I'm just worried."

"Understandable," he replied.

She drew out a shaky breath. "I should go see how the others are doing," she decided, walking to the next door.

"All right," Fitz croaked.

She forced a weak half-smile at him. "How about we all go out together tonight? You can be introduced to our late night Ambi festivities and traditions. Hmm?"

He forced his own tight smile. "Let's do it."

* * *

SOPHIE EVENTUALLY GOT DEX, BIANA, AND KEEFE to agree on tagging along.

So, she stocked them up with Ambi-style clothes and told them to change into something of their choosing so they could roam out and about on the streets. She changed into some black lycra pants, wedged boots and a shoulder less black sweater.

Sophie shoved a hilt around and up her leg until it was snug on her thigh, hidden under her dress. She grabbed her meddler and stuck it in the hilt as a security measure, then let the dress skirt fall and cover the thing. Next, she wrapped a balefire pendant around her neck and breathed on it, sending the sparks to life. She slipped on her mask and grabbed four more pendants, then exited her room. Locking it up, she slipped her key back onto the chain around her neck and dropped it down the front of her dress, concealing it as she leaned against the door, waiting in the hallway for her friends.

She saluted them when they all emerged from their rooms, dressed in the appropriate Ambi colored clothing. "Well, look at all of you. . ." she murmured, a soft smirk in her lips. "Little models."

She heaved herself off from the door and handed them each a pendant. They stared at it, but put it around their necks. "Just to help you see better while we're walking through the streets," she explained. "There'll be lots of candlelight and torches and stuff, but this will help significantly help you to see what's in front of you. You know, so you don't trip over anything."

"Wait, but what about you?" Dex asked.

'What _about_ me?"

"Aren't you supposed to go out in public as your . . . Guy self?"

She smiled. "Solon. My _guy self_ is named Solon," she corrected. "But no. _Solon_ is working in his office. Right now, I'm just Liz - one of the tribal doctors."

"You call yourselves a tribe?"

"Aren't we, of a sort?" she countered.

"Point taken."

She smiled and rolled her eyes, turning and beginning to walk down the hall "C'mon, you Debby Downers," she called back to them. "Let's get out there and let you meet some of your people."

* * *

THE STREETS WERE LIVELY AT NIGHT. They were definitely more friendly and happier than in the daylight hours.

Kids ran through the streets chasing each other and giggling, their worries of the Sickness or any other problems washed away. Cauldrons had been rolled out into the roads and filled the place with pleasing aromas, filling everyone's nostrils. Moon jars were placed all along the edges of the sidewalks and in windows of random shops. Lanterns were hung above and glowed, while some candles burned around the fountain surrounded with pictures of the dead. Some random locals banged some sort of drums to a rhythmic beat on the sidewalk and over somewhere else, a mini crowd was gathered around a teenager telling some action-filled adventure story. He was even doing some swinging and swashbuckling moves with an imaginary sword as he spoke with authority and mimicked the different voices of the characters. Some flashers snapped the fingers and constantly made light, using it as their own natural balefire pendant as they made their way around. Over in an alley, there were some teenagers laughing and clinking their glasses, telling jokes, gossiping and goofing off. Then there was a little designated spot for dancing.

"This. . . is insane," Keefe decided.

"Like it?" Sophie asked.

"This is really cool," Biana confessed.

"You guys remember the story you're supposed to tell if someone asks where you've been all this time, right?" Sophie asked in a hushed volume.

She waited until they all assured her they understood. Just in case, she recapped it to them in a secluded corner.

"Whew, well, now that we've got that out of the way. . . How about we go over and get something to drink?"

"I'm thirsty," Keefe said. "And hungry. They got anything to eat?"

"We have stuff to eat," she laughed. "Why don't you come help me, okay?" she suggested.

Keefe nodded. "Sure thing."

"You guys want me to surprise you or do you have something specific you want in mind?" Sophie asked, pointing finger guns at Fitz, Dex, and Biana while pursing her lips. When they all shrugged, muttering incoherent words, she decided they went with "surprise" and walked off with Keefe.

"So," Keefe started, pausing as he brushed shoulders with someone. He stayed close to Sophie, right on her tail. "Friendly people, huh? We're all _really_ close and _really_ tightly packed together."

She rolled her eyes. "That's because we're outside the food place."

Keefe sniffed the air as they pushed through the crowd until they were under an awning. "Yup, I smell food."

Sophie frowned when she heard his stomach growl. "When did you guys last eat?" she asked as they entered the packed building. Keefe had to apologies several times for bumping into people or hitting the sides of tables.

Sophie smirked at him. "You'll get used to navigating this place, I promise."

"Yeah, speaking of navigation and this coordination thing you have going on, what happened to the old Sophie who literally tripped over her own feet?"

She snorted. "Old Sophie died, that's what happened."

Keefe wasn't too sure how to reply to that comment, so he decided to move on from it. "Lots of people seem to know you," he said, looking at the people staring or waving at Sophie.

"I told you," she replied, "I'm a doctor."

She walked up to the counter and gave her order, and Keefe's eyes widened. "You seriously just ordered something with alcohol?"

She grinned and shrugged innocently. "I don't know. Maybe." She leaned her elbows back against the counter and giggled. "But, shhh. Don't tell them when we bring the drinks back to them. This can be our little secret, k?"

"Fitz would kill you if he found out."

"Aw, I'd like to see him try," she joked.

Sophie and Keefe's gaze shot over to their right when they heard Sophie's name being called from someone in the sea of people.

"Libby! Libby! Libby, over here!"

She flopped her head back and groaned. "Oh, look at that. Hey, Goat!" she shouted over the chatter.

Keefe's nose crinkled. "Did you just call that guy that's calling your name, _Goat_?"

She nodded and then giggle at his horrified expression. "It's just a nickname, I promise. That is _not_ his given birth name."

"What's not my given birth name?" Goat asked, slipping past people and up next to Sophie. He leaned backwards on his elbows on the counter, copying her. He didn't get off despite someone behind the counter shouting at him to.  
Sophie looked up at him and was about to answer when someone behind the counter tapped her shoulder. The teenage girl with raven black hair popped a piece of gum in her mouth. "Here you go," she said, sliding some glass bottles out on the counter. Sophie grabbed two and motioned for Keefe to come grab the other three.

She mouthed 'thank you', and then turned back to the other guy. "Goat," Sophie repeated, answering his question from a couple of minutes ago. "Goat isn't your given name.

Sophie looked to Keefe. "Keefe, this is Goat. Goat, this is Keefe."

"Nice to meet you," Goat said, reaching forward and clapping Keefe on the back.

"Keefe is a really good friend of mine," Sophie said to the guy, smiling at Keefe. Keefe forced a smile back, but this Goat guy was giving him some serious 'weird' vibes.

"And, uh, what's his. . . link to you?" Keefe questioned, popping the cork out of one of the bottles and setting the other two at his feet. The girl behind the counter explained she'd need the cork back. He took a sip from the bottle and forced a smile back at Goat.

"He's-"

"Boyfriend," Goat interjected.

Sophie rolled her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose, scoffing. She muttered things as Keefe tried to keep his jaw from dropping. She took her fingers off the bridge of her nose and patted Goat's shoulder, looking at Keefe. " _Ex_ ," she promised, emphasizing the word. "Ex-boyfriend."

Goat laughed. "Whoops, guess I forgot about that."

Sophie snickered and smirked, leaning towards Keefe. "He _always_ "conveniently" forgets that part," she whispered near his ear.

"Hey, hey, hey," Goat chuckled at Sophie, tapping her shoulder. "I can hear you, you know."

Keefe frowned, his eyes narrowing at the guy. Though Goat seemed to be teasing and messing around, his shoulders were rigid and he was rolling on the balls of his feet. As he swallowed, his Adam's apple bobbed up and down and his eyes gleamed with something Keefe couldn't define. _Everything_ about this guy's body language screamed "HOSTILE!".

"Well. . ." Sophie drawled out with a sigh, getting up off the counter and looking at Keefe. "We should probably get going, right? We still have to grab a little something to eat."

Keefe nodded, his eyes not straying from Goat. "Yeah. Let's go."

* * *

"HEY, GUYS," SOPHIE GREETED, ducking into the tiny alleyway that Fitz, Biana, and Dex were stationed in. She passed out the bottles, putting a finger up to her mouth and mouthing 'shhh', to Keefe when the rest weren't popped off the cork and tasted in, then frowned at Sophie. "You didn't."

She shrugged and took a swig of out of her own bottle. "What?"

"Pretty sure you know what I mean."

She shrugged. "Do I _really_?"

 _I've had alcohol before, you know._

She was thankful she didn't react to his transmissions filling her head. _Naughty_ , she giggled _. Also,_ reeeeeal _smooth. Haven't been in my head for years and_ those _are the first words you choose to say to me_.

He looked flustered. _Sorry, I-_

"So, me and Sophie ran into someone in the little Parlor or whatever," Keefe spoke up.

Fitz frowned. "Who?"

"Goat."

Dex and Biana both choked on their drinks. Sophie burst into laughter. "Easy!"

"Did you just say _goat_?" Fitz asked.

Sophie nodded, rolling her eyes and swishing the contents inside her bottle around in a circular motion. "Really corny. It's a nickname. He made everyone call him that. It means, 'greatest of all time.'"

Biana looked relieved that it wasn't the guy's actual name, and Dex still looked slightly confused. "Wow. Just wow." Fitz smirked. "Sounds like something Keefe would do."

"That's offensive, bro."

Sophie snickered. "You guys. . ." She sighed. "Well, what do you guys want to do?"

"What is there to do?"

"There's a tattoo shop down the way," she suggested. "And the food is on the way there."

"Couldn't we get food here?" Dex asked, looking out of the alley way at the cauldrons in the streets.

Sophie shrugged. "Yeah, we could. But there are some people by the tattoo shop every night that hand out these little biscuits along with the soup."

Biana looked out Sophie's vine/choker tattoo. "What's the whole story with your tattoos? Why'd you get them?"

"Funny story, actually." Sophie took another drink before continuing. "I went over by the tattoo shop for the food so often I kind of felt bad, so I was basically pure pressured into getting a tattoo. After that, I ended up liking it and got a few more, as you can see." She blew out a breath, rolling on the balls of her heels. "So, we goin' or not?"

Everybody glanced at one another for reassurance. Biana looked ready to explode with pure happiness. "I'm getting a tattoo!" she squealed, causing a couple eruptions of laughter.

* * *

(A/N:) Calm down, Biana ;)

Ok ok ok, I don't know what I should give her for a tattoo. I want something to go wither her personality, but... idk

Also, should I give anybody else tattoos, or...?

And sorry that this was such a pointless chapter


	5. Chapter 4

**A/N: Short chapter!**

* * *

R.R

Guest: Thank you!

ChickenLuv8: Lol, how do you know that off the top of your head?

HP Wannabe (Guest): Thank you for the wonderful review! As for romance. . . I was actually really wanting to add some spicy love triangle into the mix, but was kind of iffy. I was thinking of asking everybody what their opinion was, but then again, I'm also nervous if I ask, it'll turn into some ship war. . . So, yeah, I really have no clue! xD

TEAM SOPHIE: Lots of people have been saying that, lol, and I have no clue why. But thank you!

FUZZYKINS (Guest): Thank you!

Cherry567 (Guest): xD

bexdahboo: Thank you very much!

thelittlepurplepuffball: IT IS UPDATED! YOUR WISH IS GRANTED. xD

Guest: I'm doing better : )

Yakira Lane: Ah, but, see, if I wrote faster, it would be even more worse than it is now! x )

* * *

 **Chapter 4**

* * *

SOPHIE SPED THROUGH THE STREET, her friends trailing behind. "Can you guys see it ahead? Right there?" Sophie asked them, pointing toward a building a couple yards away on the corner of the street. It was lit by moon jars in the windows and a neon sign shining above. Sophie adjusted the cloth that was wrapped in her hair, making the knot of tangled hair tighter. "You all ready?"

There was a flurry of responses, when suddenly Sophie exclaimed, "Ooh!" and pointed up ahead. On the corner of the sidewalk in front of the building, two teenagers were leaning against a cauldron of soup, chatting and laughing with another teen who was leaving against the burnt out lamp pole. "Bowls are next to the pot," Sophie explained as picked up speed once she got near it. They followed, and the teenagers turned to look at them. The one dirty blond girl with carolina blue eye recognized Sophie. "Hey, Liz," she greeted, outstretching a hand horizontally. Sophie high-fived her hand and grinned, nodding to the other two teens. "Hey, Donna. How's everything going?"

Donna wavered her hands around. "Eh, good overall. Not really good, not really bad." She turned and inspected Fitz, Biana, Dex, and Keefe. "New Impatients?"

She glanced at her friends, then looked back to Donna. "Not really new. They've literally been with me forever. Had a really nasty skin disease and now they're cured. But, I still think they enjoyed my presence a little more than they'd like to admit." She smirked over at her friends. "Just couldn't get enough of me, could you?"

They had to admit: she was selling the lie well.

Donna crinkled her nose and snickered, lightly punching Sophie in the shoulder, then crossed her arms over her chest. "Dude, that sounds dirty."

Sophie's eyes flew open and she made gagging noises, completely appalled. She swatted at her. "Donna!" she scolded. "I didn't mean _that_. Oh, gosh, you're _terrible_!"

Biana rolled her eyes, fighting a smile, but the boys had smiles on their faces. They were just _tight_ smiles.

"What? I have a perverted mind, okay?"

She nodded. "Well, anyway, moving on. . . We headed over to get some food and possibly some tattoos."

Donna lifted her eyebrows in surprise and she grinned, looking around at the group. "Really? Nice!"

Sophie smiled. "I guess so. But they're kind of undecided right now."

"Yeah," Biana piped up, giving her usual dazzling smile. Even in a horrible city like this and the era they were living in, Biana seemed to be almost more gorgeous than ever, inside and out. Biana could probably make dirt and grime look good, now that Sophie really thought about it. . .

Sophie was surprised, but proud of her friend for the sudden burst of confidence.

"My name is Biana, by the way. This is Dex, this is Keefe, and this is Fitz," she introduced.

Donna gave a wave. "Nice to meet you all. You obviously heard Liz mention my name, but nonetheless, I'm Donna."

Donna turned around and pointed to the other two teenagers. First she introduced the guy. "This is Darrius. He's my younger brother." Then she pointed to the girl. "This is Sabaa. She's the friend who cheats on every game."

Dex laughed. "Keefe can relate to that! That's his entire life."

Keefe shrugged. "Whoops?"

Donna snickered. "I like you guys. Hpwever, Mr. Dark And Mysterious over here is staying suspiciously silent," she teased, pointing a finger at Fitz.

"Nah, the mysterious one over here is Foster," Keefe joked.

Donna raised an eyebrow. "Foster. . ?"

Sophie pinched the bridge of her nose while Dex sent Keefe death glares. Biana looked like she was holding in laughter and Fitz was just slack-jawed. "Well. . ." Keefe started, looking to apologize for his meds up. He's forgotten she wasn't to be called anything else but Liz. Calling her Foster was just an everyday thing for him and he hadn't thought to play along. "Sorry, guys."

Donna was utterly confused. "Liz, what was he talking-"

"Eh, I don't know. He says weird stuff all the time. Just get used to it."

"I'm offended," Keefe said, pretending to act hurt.

"This one is a handful. I can tell," Darrius spoke up.

Sabaa giggled. "Aw, c'mon, Dare. What's the problem with a little trouble?"

"Trouble isn't innocent. Or. . . Some is, I guess. What's the opposite of innocent?"

Sophie raised her hand. "Here."

Donna burst into a fit of snorty laughter and clapped her on the back. Once her fit was done and she caught her breath, she placed a hand on Sophie's shoulder. "Well, grab some food and go have fun in there."

Sophie turned to her friends. "You heard her." She stepped aside the cauldron and gestured to the chipped, faded bowls sitting on the sidewalk next to it. There were also about a dozen biscuits wrapped up in a clear plastic bag. "Let's get some food and go pick out some designs."

* * *

ONCE THEY STEPPED INSIDE THE SHOP, Biana's face lit up. "Wow," she breathed. "This place is really cool."

The walls and floors were bathed in a light purple glow, but it was dark and the whole placed looked like a paint shop had thrown up in there. The purple glow was coming from black lights that made everything light up. There was colorful, bright, neon splotches all over the ground and on the walls that had been painted black. There were random moon jars set up all over the place and neon, glowing signs. There was a bucket full of glow sticks in one corner, and all the workers in the shop had some sort of bioluminescent accessory on them. Some ladies wore glowing makeup, some guys had shining shoelaces, others had earrings, high heels, ascots, hats, wristbands, and buttons on their coats, etc.

"I think I might drop my bowl of soup," Biana stuttered.

Sophie smirked. "Hey, it won't look so out of place with the random paint splatters, am I right?" she joked, brushing her hand over an armchair with another glowing splash.

She walked up to a dark wooden crate in a corner and dug in it, pulling out some templates. "These are just some ideas," she explained. "But these guys can do anything you want, really."

"Cool," Dex replied.

They all grabbed the different templates and started flipping through the translucent papers, soaking in all the ideas. Sophie leaned against the wall, crossing her arms, watching her friends intently.

Keefe finished looking through everything first. "I think I'll pass."

"Nothing really caught your eye?" Sophie asked.

"Eh, I guess not. And I'm too lazy to think of something custom."

Keefe's statement made Sophie snort-giggle. "Okay, I'm going to be honest: That one almost made me want to give you a high-five. _Almost_."

"I think I'll be passing with Keefe."

"Aw. C'mon, Wonderboy. Have a little fun."

"I officially love you," Dex laughed.

Fitz rolled his eyes, but he showed no signs or true annoyance. He knew it was only teasing. "You guys are the worst. But, _yes_ , I am going to sit this one out."

Sophie reached forward and patted his shoulder playfully. "Suit yourself, Captain Perfect."

"Don't you mean Captain Cognate?" Keefe suggested.

"I thought you were so set on me getting him to allow us to call him Lord of the Snuggles," Sophie reminded.

"Can we not discuss nicknames right now?" Fitz groaned when Keefe's eye sparkled and he burst into laughter.

"Where is Mr. Snuggles, anyway?"

"Okay, I've had enough with you guys mock-"

"I'm not joking! What happened to the sparkly dude?"

"I left him back in my city."

Sophie sported a pouty frown. "Aw, why?"

"We were hurrying to get you. Doesn't seem like the appropriate time for stuffed animals," he replied truthfully.

"Oh, it's _always_ the time for stuffed animals."

Biana set down the designs, drawing attention to her and signalling the end of the conversation. "This is really overwhelming. There's so many to choose from, I can barely decide."

Sophie grinned. "It was difficult for me, too."

"I can imagine," Fitz answered. "What's the story with the Lodestar lines going around your arm like an armlet, anyway? What days do those represent?"

Sophie glanced down to her three Lodestar bands. She pointed to the one nearest her shoulder. "This is my birthday. Or, I guess, my ID day." She moved her finger down to the next one. "This is one is the day I came to the Lost Cities." She moved down to the last one. "And. . . And this one. . ."

She dropped her hand and looked around at all of them, frowning. "I'm not sure if I should say."

"Why not?" Dex asked.

"Well. . . I guess I could just explain it to you better if. . ."

"If what?" Biana prodded.

Sophie shrugged, shoving her hands in her pockets. "Just forget I said it. I'll tell you eventually. Okay?"

They all looked rather glum that a secret was being kept from them, but they nodded solemnly in agreement.

* * *

AFTER A MATTER OF ABOUT FIFTEEN MINUTES, DEX AND BIANA finished getting their tattoos. They walked back to Sophie, Fitz, and Keefe—who were sitting in the waiting area—coming and laughing, pointing to the new markings adorned on their skin.

Sophie arose from her chair and approached a smiling Biana who beckoned her to come over. Biana held out her wrist and Sophie admired the words she'd chosen.

FIGHT LIKE A GIRL was marked on her in beautiful, loopy handwriting.

"That's amazing," Sophie complimented, smiling. "Nice choice."

Then she moved on to admire Dex's choice.

"That's cool. What is it?" she asked, looking at the armband. It was a mess of cogs and gears all wrapped around this one section of his arm. It looked lifelike and she was almost sure that any secons, it would spring to life and start working like an actual piece of machinery.

"It's the insides of a pocket watch," Dex explained.

"That's really cool," Sophie grinned, examining it. She was happy that her friends were satisfied with their choices.

Fitz and Keefe complimented the two as well, but Fitz made some grumbling about how Alden and Della were most likely not going take an instant liking to him having just letting his little sister get a tattoo.

"Hey, Liz!" Donna and from the doorway, making Sophie whip around. "What is it?" the blonde, doe-eyed elf yelled back.

"Your da—"

Sophie jumped up and made a "STOP" motion with her hands wildly. _I haven't told them!_ she mouthed.

Donna frowned, her face a question mark. "Huh?"

Sophie groaned and rolled her eyes. She mouthed the words again, and another time she Gonna didn't understand the second trial. Donna finally got it and snapped her fingers, giving a thumbs up.

"She's, uh. . . You know who is here."

Sophie straightened the knot in her hair and her purple bandana. "Well? What are you waiting for?" Sophie yelled.

A little fit of giggles erupted and then came the clapping of footsteps as a young girl came running up to Sophie, who had squatted down to the ground. The little girl had a ponytail of blonde ringlets and shining crystalline blue eyes and a purple dress on. She ran up to Sophie and threw her arms around her, smiling a pearly white smile.

The little girl's face was full of charcoal and paint stains and she held a small rabbit stuffed animal in her hand. The toy was frail and the limbs of the poor thing looked like they were about to fall off.

The little girl pulled back slightly to look Sophie in the face. "Hi!" she greeted enthusiastically.

"Hey, hon," Sophie grinned back. "What are you up to? Shouldn't you be with White?"

"I told him I wanted to see you," the child answered, still sporting her dazzling smile.

Sophie laughed. "Well, that's really sweet, babe." She took the purple bandana out of her hair and swept the child's falling-out hair back with it. She kissed her cheek. "Thanks for coming to see me." Sophie strangled her with another hug. "I missed you, Carebear!"

The girl giggled, hugging her back. "I missed you way more."

Sophie pulled back again. "That's impossible." She turned her head back to peer at her friends standing behind her, taking in the odd spectacle.

She looked back to the blonde child and swooped her up into her arms, placing her on her hip as she faces Fitz, Dex, Biana, and Keefe.

"Sweetheart, I'd like you to meet my friends." She pointed at all of them, listing their names slowly for her and the kid grinned. "Nice to meet you."

Keefe waved his hand awkwardly, gaining Sophie's attention. "May I ask who this is?"

She nodded, her mouth twitching at the corners. Sophie turned and nuzzles her nose playfully into the child's neck, making her laugh. "I like to call this one my little Forgotten Secret."

She led her face back to her friend's, discontinuing messing with the girl. "She's the one connected to my last Lodestar armband. That date represents her birthday, or, ID Day."

And something seemed to register in their brains as their eyes went wide and their mouth went slack-jawed.

Sophie smiled. "I'd like you to meet my daughter."

* * *

 **A/N: And finally, at 4:11 AM, it is posted!**


	6. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I do not own KOTLC.**

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **WOWZA! I think I got the most comments so far on this story from last chapter! xD**

 **All of you seem so surprised from last time's little plot twist, haha.**

 **Well, what are you waiting for? Read on about the little Forgotten Secret! ; )**

* * *

 **Chapter 5**

* * *

"HOLD UP. . . DID YOU JUST say 'daughter'?"

The girl giggled and Sophie grinned. "You heard me correctly."

They all gaped and Biana squealed. "She's adorable!" she cooed, walking up to her. "I just want to squeeze her!"

Sophie laughed. "This is Iris."

"That's a pretty name," Biana complimented, smiling at Iris and shaking her small hand. "Where'd you get that from?" she asked Sophie.

"Emma Iris Foster," was all Sophie said, uttering her human mother's original name. At the moment of silence, she turned to her daughter. "Did you come here by yourself?"

She shook her curly blond head. "White brought me here when I asked if I could see you."

"Why weren't you asleep with Mr. Flopsy?" Sophie asked softly, picking up the little rabbit's ear a bit and then dropping it.

The child shrugged, hugging her bunny. "I missed you too much. I couldn't get to sleep."

Sophie frowned and pecked her lips to Iris' forehead. "I'm sorry about that."

"It's ok, Mommy," she promised.

"Who's her dad?" Fitz asked, interjecting while the conversation halted.

Sophie opened her mouth to answer several times, but her voice failed her. She swallowed, battering her eyelashes nervously. "Uh. . . Well. . ." She stuttered.

"Edwardos is my dad!" The child announced giddily. "He's working, I'm pretty sure. Right, Mom? When can we see Daddy again, Momma?"

Sophie forced a smile to her, setting her gently to the ground. "Maybe later tonight, baby. Can you go wait outside for a couple of seconds? You can talk with Donna and White, okay?"

Iris pouted, her eyes welling up. "I guess. . ."

Sophie's mouth twitched upwards. "That's my good girl. I'll be right out."

Iris nodded and scurried off, her rabbit flopping around while dangling from her one hand.

Sophie blew out a slow breath while turning back towards her friends. She closed her eyes and ran both her hands down her face before fluttering her eyes open, plastering on a fake smile, and shoving her hands in her pant's pockets. "What was the question, again?" she asked, her voice sounding like one long sigh.

"Who's her dad?"

Sophie nodded slowly, biting her lip and looking at the ground, scuffing the floor with the two of her boot. "Well, Edwardos isn't her real dad, if that's what you're wondering. I've just. . . I just told her that."

"Is Edwardos an actual guy?"

Sophie's face brightened slightly. "Oh, yeah."

"Who's her biological father, then? What happened to him?"

Sophie laughed nervously, eyes growing misty. "I, uh. . ." She laughed softly and croaked, "I actually don't know." She shrugged when they frowned. "He went missing near the start of when the Sickness first broke out. I wasn't one of the doctors back then and I was p-pregnant with Iris. He, uh. . . He was taken in for treatment because he started showing the symptoms." She paused in her story, blinking her eyes hard. She sighed. "He wasn't heard of again. At least, I never heard anything of him. Whenever I asked, they would all try to stutter out some answer and they all looked so sad. I had to accept that he was gone." She frowned. "Well, anyway, the doctors at that time suggested I should come in to get checked for any symptoms of the Sickness. I took a blood test and found out I was pregnant. I was a little ways from starting to physically show and. . . and a couple weeks later, I fell in love with Ed. I'll be honest and tell you my intentions were mostly selfish in my "wanting" of him. All I had really wanted to begin with, when I started my relationship with him, was that Iris could have him as a father figure. I guess I later realized that I needed him, too.

"I started showing after a couple weeks into us being together." She laughed. "He was real surprised, I'll tell you that." She suddenly sombered, her happy expression faltering for a second. "I guess I probably should have warned him right off the bat. It would have been much easier for him to make a decision or prepare for the reality of having a kid, in my early weeks, when I hadn't begun to show. But, I didn't and he got scared. He and I took a two week break, then one day he came barreling into my room and started ranting on and on about how wrong he was to leave and how bad and selfish it was, to just leave me and my kid like that. He told me he genuinly wanted to be apart of me and Iris' life. I told him it was fine and I would really have liked him to stay as well and. . . We spent the rest of the nine months together.

"Iris was born prematurely, at least a week before she was supposed to have arrived. I was scared that meant she wasn't healthy or wouldn't make it. I'll admit she was a couple pounds underweight, but. . . My babygirl was alright."

Sophie smiled softly to herself, reliving getting to see and hold Iris in her arms for the first time. She'd been so small and fragile. . .

"That's. . . A lot to take in," Keefe admitted.

Sophie flushed at how she'd just ranted to them about her months being pregnant and her love life, but Biana came up and hugged her. "That sounds awful. I'm so sorry." Sophie hugged her back, but when Biana stepped back, Sophie shook her head. "It was really okay, though. I had Eddy."

"Aw, you call him Eddy?" Biana gushed, causing Sophie to turn a shade darker.

"It's just a nickname," the embarrassed blonde mumbled to her cooing friend.

"An adorable nickname! I really would like to meet this guy."

"I'm in for that," Fitz added, looking a little curious.

"Dido," Keefe said.

"Guess so," Dex shrugged.

Sophie laughed, brushing a strand of hair that had been framing her face, to behind her ear. "I could try to go to his room at the hotel. Like I said to Iris, he might be working, though."

"He has his own room? Why doesn't he share with you if you're a. . . Thing?" Keefe asked.

"Me and Iris already sleep in the bed in there, but. . . I don't know. Ed might like his own space better. And Iris wakes up early and he has to work late, so he doesn't get back until later, so. . . And, anyways, If Ed was there, all we'd really do in there is—"

Keefe held up his hands, grimacing. "Please don't say it."

Sophie rolled her eyes. "Grow up. That's a natural part of life. But, no. I didn't mean that. I was just going to say sleep, you idiot," she teased.

"Well. . . What are we waiting for?" Biana questioned. "Shouldn't we get going?"

Sophie snorted. "Someone's excited."

"Of course I'm excited! I get to meet your boyfriend! Or. . . Husband. Wait—what should he be called?"

Sophie smirked. "His name."

Biana rolled her eyes, but she was trying not to smile.

Sophie turned in the direction of the doorway, cupping her hands over her mouth. "Iris! Do you want to go see Daddy?"

"Yes, Mommy!"

* * *

SOPHIE WALKED THROUGH THE hotel halls with her friends trailing behind and her daughter holding her hand. Iris yawned and rubbed her eyes with the hand she was carrying Mr. Flopsy in.

"You tired?" Sophie asked.

"A little," Iris answered. "But I can stay awake if Dad's up."

Sophie half-smiled, squeezing her girl's hand lightly. She looked back at her friend's. "You guys ready to crash, yet?"

"Not until I meet this Edwardos guy," Fitz said.

Sophie stopped abeuptly, realizing she was at the door number she needed. "Can you knock, sweetheart?"

Iris nodded and sleepily knocked softly on the door. Sophie didn't knock again and didn't ask Iris to knock louder—she just smiled and bent over, giving her a sweet kids to the top of her golden head. "Nice job, babygirl."

They waited about a minute until Iris frowned and whined. "Is he sleeping?"

Sophie sighed. "You know that Daddy's tired, ba—"

Her reply was cut short by the sound of a creaking bed, shuffling feet, and keys jangling. Iris perked up, not looking so tired anymore, but very excited as light shone through the bottom of the door.

The lock clicked and the doorknob turned as the door freaked open. Sophie smiled as Iris giggled and ran into the house, hugging the leg of the teenage guy standing in the doorway. He laughed, reaching down with one of his hand's a ruffling her golden ringlets. "Hey, sweetie."

He looked up at Sophie and took his other hand, putting it behind the small of her back. He tried to pull her forward, but Sophie squeaked, trying to pull away.

He laughed more. "Get back here!"

"No! Ed, I'm serious, stop!" she giggled.

He tugged her forward and her face smushed against his chest as he strangled her with a one-armed hug, and did the same to Iris eith his other. "How have my girls been?"

Sophie pushed her face off from his chest and opened her mouth to say something, but he kissed her nose and she squirmed. "That was wet!"

"Was not!" he protested, chuckling. "You're overreacting, silly."

"No, I'm serious!" she giggled.

"That's the second time you've said that since we've seen Dad," Iris laughed.

"Who's side are you on?" Sophie teased, bending over and playfully poking Iris's stomach. The child only laughed more, clutching the spot. "Hey! That tickles."

Edwardos shook his head, straightening before he bent over and scooped Iris up onto his hip. With his eyes trained outside the door, he finally noticed the group of friends observing the spectacle.

Sophie smoothed down her semester's front and crossed her arms, smiling at her boyfriend. "I was trying to tell you."

"Who. . . Who are they?"

Edwardos was a fairly short guy, but he definitely wasn't as small as Sophie. He had dark chocolate brown hair, tan skin, and lapis eyes. There was a small bit of rough stubble on his chin and his teeth were fairly white. A lot better than most people's, those days.

He was dressed simply in a light gray shirt and dark gray sweatpants. One of his band's was bandaged and dark red stained the outside.

Sophie bit her lip to keep from smiling. They could tell she was excited to see her boyfriend, but was trying very hard to not show it too much. "These are some old friends of mine. Biana, Dex, Fitz, and Keefe. I just need you to promise me you won't tell anyone that side of the story."

Edwardos looked at her, concern filling his eyes. "What?"

"I'll tell you inside, if we can all. . ." She gestered to inside the room.

Edwardos looked a little stunned at first as his eyes scanned all four of his girlfriend's friend's faces, but he eventually seemed to snap out of it as he swallowed and pushed the door open further. "Better hurry inside, then."

* * *

AS SOON AS EVERY ONE WAS INSIDE, Edwardos began closing the door as loud barking rang out. A dog sprung and attacked Sophie by jumping up and licking her face crazily and jumping up and down like a spring.

Sophie chuckled. "Izzy, down! Down, girl!"

The dog halted, standing in front of her while wagging her tail swiftly, her tongue rolled out of her mouth lazily as she panted.

"You have a dog?" Dex asked, holding out his hand when the dog walked towards them, her nose perking up and twitching as she sniffed.

Sophie nodded. "Well, I mean, not really. I'm just dog sitting, basically. She belongs to Donna, but Donna 's a wild child and not one I would call responsible enough to be out in charge of another life," she teased, cooeing to Izzy when the dog approached her again. Iris giggled happily and pet her on the head before running over to one of the beds and flipping on it. "Can I draw some more, Dad?"

Edwardos laughed. "Is that why you're all covered in charcoal and paint?" he asked, wiping some off the girl's cheek, winking at Sophie.

Sophie gaped, laughing. "Hey!" she defended. "That was _not_ me. She was painting with White."

Edwardos swallowed and stood, being in his composure. "Play with Izzy, honey," he ordered to Iris. " me and Mom are going to talk, okay? "

Iris reluctantly obeyed and Edwardos turned to Sophie. "You told me you'd tell me the whole story behind them," he reminded, Pickerington hand towards her friends.

Sophie sighed. "Don't be rude."

"Sorry," he apologized . "I wasn't trying to."

Sophie looked at her friends who were clearly listening in awkwardly and she sighed as she watched Edwardos. "These are my friend from the Before. You know, before the whole city ordeal. . . Apparently word has gotten out to the other cities about our living conditions and stuff here and they were worried about me, so they came to find me here. Illegally. I'm hiding them. They can't go back to their cities, now, because the Councillors would do some sort of grand punishment and I can't have that."

"How did the word get out?" he asked.

Sophie shrugged. "They told me there were these whispers on the streets. I'm thinking it was the Uptowners who leaked it out to the other cities. They're trying to cause commotion."

"Seems like a valid assumption," he agreed. "Do they still have their Councillors?"

Bianca nearly choked on air. "Excuse me? Still have? Do you guys not have Councillors around here or something?"

Sophie swallowed and wrung her hands when Iris piped up, "Momma, what are Councillors?"

Edwardos shushed her ,explaining she was being rude eavesdropping, especially since he had told her to play with Izzy, and Dex said, "Well, I guess that answers _that_ question."

"What happened to them? " Keefe asked, appalled. "Oralie and Bronte?"

Sophie's eyes were downcast. "The-The Sickness," she answered. They made note of how her eyes welled up with tears and she hit her lip so hard they were sure she was going to split the skin open. " It, uh. . . "

She cleared her throat. "Edaline is gone, too."

* * *

 **A/N: Super short and I'm sorry💙**


	7. Chapter 6

**a/n: hello lovelies!**

 **since this has not been updated in what, like a literal year? things are going to be a little bit different from here on out! my style of writing has slowly been developing and may not perfectly align with my old writing. that being said, it's not a bad thing - and i'm not saying that i've changed the plot or characters or than anything won't make sense anymore or something crazy like that.**

 **i'm just saying i hope you can see some tiny improvements from here on out :)**

 **also, because i've grown older since i first began this fanfiction, you will probably also notice the increased amount of cursing. hope you don't mind, lol.**

 **love u!**

* * *

IRIS PLAYED WITH IZZY in the background, completely unaware of how quiet it had just gotten. All the teens bodies had gone rigid at the news Sophie had shared. Sophie refused to make eye contact with anyone, her eyes welled up with tears as she chewed on her lower lip.

"I. . ." She cleared her throat. "I got to say goodbye, though. So that's. . . Good, I suppose. Most people don't get to say goodbye." The last part came out softer.

Everyone began mumbling their apologies, saying they were extremely sorry for everything she'd endured while they were gone, but she shook her head quickly, waving her hand to cut them off. "Please. . . Please don't. I'm fine, okay? I know my Mom went peacefully. It didn't hurt and she got to say goodbye." She cleared her throat. "Besides, I wouldn't have Iris if things hadn't. . . changed. I don't like that I lost my mom, but I don't want to dwell on that. I don't want to get sad when I think about her. That's pointless. We had. . . An amazing time together, while it lasted."

She shook her blonde head, the ringlets brushing across her shoulders. "I don't know," she mumbled, looking tired and defeated.

Dex cleared his throat. "What does the Sickness do?"

Sophie rubbed her temples as if she had a headache. She shot a glance to Iris. "Ed, I. . ."

"Got it," the guy answered, going over to Iris and scooping her up. The dog, Izzy, followed in tow over to the bed, where they sat down. Edwardos worked towards occupying Iris, ensuring she wouldn't hear any of the conversation.

Sophie watched her daughter for a few more seconds, eyes lingering on her pink-cheeked innocence before she turned back to her friends. "The Sickness kills you when you reach a certain age," she finally confessed. "It's rare for someone to age past twenty. We assume it has something to do with the fact that our bodies are still growing and we have a lot more imbalanced chemicals in youth. But once that fades. . ." She snapped her fingers bluntly, looking back at Iris.

"I just. . ." Sophie sighed. "I can't do it all. It's too much. I don't know what to do, where to start. . . I've spent around two years trying to figure out how this disease works, why it attacks the body. . . And there's been practically _no_ answers to bear. The only things we know are the symptoms a victim shows when it strikes during their last hours and that the disease is probably air-borne and - we assume - genetically transmitted."

Sophie furiously wiped her eyes. "I just don't want Iris hurt," she muttered, voice cracking. It was obvious she was trying her best not to break down in front of them. Her arms were crossed and she rocked on the balls of her feet, squeezing her eyes shut every now and then as if it would make the tears magically dissolve. "I'd rather die than see her go through that. Than _know_ she's going to have that fate."

Biana, Dex, Keefe, and Fitz were all equally stunned into silence, unsure of how to properly comfort their agonized friend.

"And you're _sure_ there's absolutely no way to stop it?" Dex asked, prodding. She looked him in the eyes for the first time since they had arrived, and everyone knew that meant she was being very serious when she flatly admitted, "Yes."

Sophie was well aware that Dex had often been considered the genius of the group - and he _was_ a genius. But Sophie knew in her heart that no matter how many other overly intelligent elves they pulled into the ring, it wouldn't make a difference. The research had met its ends point.

Sophie turned to Iris again, watching her daughter with that unfaltering adoration. But there was something else mixed in there, too. Determination, perhaps?

"I'm hoping that it's just affecting one generation. Maybe Iris and the few other younger ones will be okay." She sighed, running a hand through her hair. "Of course, there's always the possibility that the virus could mutate, even if it did manage to spare a few kids. It could adapt and. . ."

She didn't need to finish that sentence.

It was quiet for a bit, save the noise of the dog and Edwardos and Iris on the bed, chatting. Edwardos had taken a cloth and had begun to wipe all the paint and charcoal smudges off of Iris' face, tenderly, and Sophie crossed her arms and bit her lip as she watched the spectacle.

Keefe finally cleared his throat. "We've taken down a plague before. Why not do it again?"

Sophie sighed. "The last time that happened, the plague was created intentionally and there was a confirmed cure that we had to bargain for. That we had to _lose_ for."

She looked him directly in the eyes as she said the last part, and shame crept over his body as he envisioned Calla's tree, sitting all alone on the hill back at Havenfield. If Havenfield was even still standing, to this day, that was.

She shook her blonde head. "Point is, this isn't something that we can easily defeat. It's taken out thousands and it's only continuing. It's killing one hundred percent out of one hundred percent. People are scared - no one wants to reach their eighteenth birthday because that's as early as it can get you. I just. . . I don't know."

Fitz nodded, but didn't dwell on her answer. He swiftly jumped to the next question, as if he were in some sort of rush or as if they didn't have much time. "When did you start running things?"

There was some sort of edge to his voice that reminded her of a glint of teasing mirth, even though his face was fully serious. For the first time since she'd seen him, she actually felt a tiny stir in her stomach at the tone of voice. She'd forgotten how insane he'd used to drive her and her naive little heart - not that it had exactly learned its lesson with love over the past three-and-a-half years.

She kept her arms casually crossed as she bluntly explained, "Everyone started dying. And when Oralie. . ." Sophie had to pause for a moment to blink heavily in some attempt to keep her tears at bay. "I don't even really know how it happened. I was just messing around, if I'm being honest."

Everyone looked at her proddingly, practically begging for her to elaborate because what she was cluing them in on was too cryptic. She shrugged shyly after a few seconds of piercing eyes, not really knowing what she was supposed to say.

That was when Ed, from over on the bed with Iris, piped up, "She started protesting here and there, at first. Different things, not all the same. And then she began going around and doing such heroic things - it was really cute. And-"

"I _swear_ if you don't shut up before you go too far," Sophie growled, pointing a finger. Iris laughed in amusement on the bed, causing Edwardos to crack a tiny smile and snicker. "What? I'm being serious. It _was_ cute. You were like a little mediator. A peace-keeper. You got in between all the fights, saw both sides, and always managed to come up with some solution that benefited everybody. I was impressed."

"Stop, you corndog."

"Stop what?"

"I don't know. Being a sap," Sophie snapped. She glared at him for a few seconds longer than necessary. Her facade dropped for a moment, however, as her lip betrayed her, twitching lightly when they locked eyes.

Edwardos gave a look at her that practically voiced, _ah, yes - sue me for being a sap_ , and Iris giggled and rolled over on the bed, her tiny chest bouncing with giddy laughter. Edwardos chuckled as Izzy's ears perked up at the spectacle, her tiny snout rested on top of her folded paws.

Sophie's cheeks bloomed with a soft, somehow subtle rosy colour as she watched Ed and Iris and the dog, rolling her eyes through her smile. She turned back to her old friends, shaking her head as her smile slowly faded, and her composure returned. "Anyway, uh. . . I think I should get Iris to bed. It's really late. And we can talk more about this in the morning. If you don't mind I just need to help her get to sleep and I can walk you to your rooms-"

"If they're fine with it," Edwardos interjected, waiting for Sophie to look at him, "they can stay here. All of us can. I'll can prop out the little couch so it can turn into another bed, someone can take this one, I have some extra blankets for anyone who's willing to take the floor. . ."

"Where will you go?" Iris asked, pouting.

Ed smiled brightly, leaning down and kissing Iris on the forehead. "On the balcony, princess."

Sophie did another round of eyerolls as Iris immediately began begging to sleep outside with Edwardos, to which Biana cracked a smile at.

"You know what, if you guys are okay with that, you can stay here. Otherwise I'll walk you to your rooms. Or you can walk yourselves if you feel you don't need an escort. Just choose whatever you'd like while I. . ." She sighed, peeking back at Iris. "Wrangle this one."

* * *

Sophie stood in the doorway that led out to the balcony, watching as Edwardos shuffled around outside, trying to put up a hammock. All his attempts were failing, though, as Iris kept jumping up too early at the last second, thinking the hammock was secure and that she could jump in.

Sophie bit her lip, her lips breaking into a smile as she watched it happen for the third time. Iris snickered in the mess of sheets and the singular pillow as Edwardos shook his head, scooping up Iris. "You little monster," he teased, peppering kisses and blowing raspberries into the crook of her neck.

Iris squirmed and flailed, whooping and hollering from the tickling in his arms. Sophie laughed, waving her hand out to Edwardos to signal that it was time to be done. Ed grinned at her, stepping over the mess of the hammock and into the doorway, passing Iris into Sophie's arms.

"Okay, bugaboo," Edwardos said, his voice dropping lower and softer as he combed a hand through Iris' hair, kissing her forehead. "Time for bed."

Iris whined and tried to start complaining, but Edwardos straightened and pulled Sophie into his embrace, enveloping the two of them. Iris started giggling and comparing the hug to a sandwich. Edwardos laughed a little as Sophie's mouth twitched, and lifted his hand and cupped her face before pecking her mouth sweetly. Sophie leaned a little in to his lingering touch, cheeks growing rosy.

With that, Edwardos departed back out onto the balcony to try and get the hammock set up, while Sophie turned into the room and surveyed the area to see where everyone had chosen to bed. Her friends didn't seem to have chosen a places for one another, yet, as the only thing that had happened while she had been watching outside was the beds had gotten set up. The couch was propped out, and blankets and pillows had been added. The actual king-size bed in the room had simply had the sheets pulled back to allow anyone to climb in.

Biana was smoothing down the bed sheets on the couch with Dex, while Fitz and Keefe both sat around the room, casually leaning against different items. They appeared to have been watching her because when she flickered her eyes over them, they ripped their eyes away frantically and tried acting like nothing had happened.

Sophie sighed, walking Iris over to the bed and setting her down on the edge. Sophie looked to Keefe, who was closest to the bed. "Sorry, could she fall asleep here? I'll move her once she's out so that you can-"

"Hey, it's all good, Foster," Keefe assured, noticing the way Sophie's face began to flush and how he felt moderate waves of embarrassment rolling off of her. He assumed it was because she was internally wondering if they were all judging her for having a kid, or something insane like that.

Maybe even the fact that she'd seemed to move from their old crew almost entirely.

Sophie chewed on her lower lip a little, nodding before pointing to the bathroom near Fitz. "Fitz, could you do me a favor? If you go into the bathroom and look in the last drawer underneath the counter, you'll find a few extra pairs of PJs for Iris. Could you grab some for me?"

Fitz blinked at her, once, twice, before bobbing his head in confirmation and disappearing into the bathroom briefly, before popping back out and handing Sophie the patterned pair of pajamas. Sophie helped Iris change into them, lifting her arms above her head to pull off her dress and tug on the star-covered pajama shirt. Then she helped her wriggle into her pants, her daughter grinning as she curled up in the center of the bed, nuzzling into the covers and hugging Mr. Flopsy. Sophie smiled tenderly, hopping into the bed beside her, spooning her and snaking an arm around her waist to tug her into the curve of her body. Iris beamed up at her mother, eyelids already blinking lazily and growing heavy.

Izzy hopped up on the bed next, without warning, but neither Sophie nor Iris flinched as the dog panted before curling up and finding a nice spot on the edge of the bed to sleep. Dex, Biana, Keefe, and Fitz all assumed this was a sort of routine they'd had.

But then Sophie flicked her eyes up towards all of them, patting the bed. "Come on," she sighed. "There's room for all of us to sit down and talk a little before bed."

Hesitantly everyone shared a look before creeping towards the bed and figuring out a way to effectively arrange themselves. Iris peeked up at Sophie. "Me too?" she asked.

"No," Sophie said simply, though it wasn't firm. "You need to go to sleep. You know it's bed time."

Iris pouted briefly before snuggling more up against her mom's side, accepting that she wasn't going to get to listen in and that she was actually tired herself.

Sophie combed her fingers gently through Iris' hair for a few minutes as Dex and Biana adjusted themselves on the end of the bed near Izzy. Fitz took the middle section of the bed, while Keefe sat near the headboard, up next to Sophie.

Izzy was to Fitz's right, on the corner of the end of the bed, and Fitz reached out with a tiny smile, allowing Izzy to sniff and lick his palm.

Everyone seemed to understand that it was best if they stayed quiet until Iris fell asleep, so they sat on the bed quietly. Mostly they watched Sophie lull Iris to sleep by brushing her hands through her daughter's hair, but occasionally they'd peek at each other or Izzy or even Edwardos on the balcony outside.

Just when they were getting used to still silence, though, soft snoring noises began to reverberate around the room. Sophie's lips twitched and cracked into a smile.

Beside her, Keefe lifted his hand and reached out towards Iris, and Sophie almost instinictually flinched until she realized it was only him. Keefe tentatively touched Iris' forehead, brushing his fingers off to the side and sweeping some strands of hair out of her face.

Sophie nodded at Keefe, mouthing a quick, _Thank you_.

Keefe's lips painted into a smile on his face and he retracted his hand leizurely, gazing down at the bundle curled up against Sophie.

Sophie began internally debating where she was going to put Iris down to sleep and where she was going to bunker down for the night, as well. She could always sleep on the floor inside or on the balcony. And Iris could probably squish in with Edwardos. It wouldn't be all to comfortable, probably, but it was only for one night.

Maybe-

"I still can't believe you have a daughter," Dex marveled quietly. Sophie looked up at him in amusement, taking her focus off her daughter for a second. Then she turned a little pink and turned back to Iris. A few others mumbled their agreements, while the rest - like Keefe - just watched in silent amazement as Sophie brushed her fingers across Iris' forehead, getting the hair off of her tiny, peaceful face. Sophie's cheeks flushed lightly as she nodded, not taking her eyes off of Iris.

"What was it like?" Biana piped up, adding to the comment.

Sophie fluttered her eyelashes, looking over at them. "What do you mean?"

Biana shrugged, grabbing a pillow and hugging it. She seemed to be getting comfortable, as did the others, who were readjusting their positions to face her while still relaxing. Sophie didn't quite understand why they were paying so much attention, though - she didn't exactly have a thrilling story to tell.

"Just. . . Everything," Biana finally said. Though, from the light tinge on her cheeks, Sophie could only guess she specifically wanted to hear about her pregnancy.

So, Sophie opened her mouth for another round of 'what do you mean?' for further clarification, but Keefe noticed and added, "We've been apart for a long time, Foster. And obviously a lot has changed." He gestured to Iris.

Sophie cleared her throat, looking down at her little girl again. "So. . .you want the details?"

She looked around at the group, waiting for everyone to nod before she blew out a steady breath, combing gentle fingers through Iris' hair. "It was. . . Really weird getting to the city for the first time. Edaline and I got an apartment — which is long since gone, trust me. It was in the Uptown, which we obviously don't own anymore."

Her mind flashed to visions of the Uptowners — the freshly proclaimed rebel group — and she swallowed the bile rising in the back of her throat, thinking of how Tam and Linh were in that part of town as they spoke.

Her friends faces held no indication of that, though, and she felt a stab of guilt. She knew she probably shouldn't have been in their heads, holding back the memories of the two twins — a new skill she'd acquired over the years — but she couldn't have them asking questions. Couldn't have them pestering her about the awful thing that had occurred.

"Anyway, we spent a year there. And obviously there was the whole. . . Guy. . . _Situation_." She waved her hand in a vague gesture and winced, not having any motivation to continue the conversation. "The first outbreaks of the Sickness began and he went into the hospital and just. . . Never came back out. At that time I was about two-ish months into my pregnancy, which I still didn't know about. Then, though, like I said, I went in for a blood test and figured it out."

She curled a strand of her daughter's hair around her finger. "Edaline helped me out a lot, during the next few weeks. But she. . . Didn't make it very long. Nobody did. Within that next couple of weeks, everyone was dropping like flies." Her tone had grown bitter near the end of the statement, but she shook her head, clearing the sour thoughts from her brain.

"I moved out of the apartment and decided to stay in a hotel for a while." She gestured to around the room. "Met Ed, settled down. . ." She shrugged, looking around the room as if it held millions of memories. "I was alone when my water broke. I was pretty freaked out because she wasn't due for awhile, and practically all the doctors were gone, but. . . I got through it. Ed came back around halfway through. I was on the floor with a towel. . ."

"Wait," Keefe interrupted, eyebrows raised. "You had her on your own? In here?"

Sophie flushed scarlet. "Yeah. I was on the floor over there, leaning up against the wall."

Everybody looked over to where Sophie generally motioned towards, trying to envision having to do that on their own. Delivering a child _with_ medical help was a thrill of a ride all on it's own - but here this crazy girl had gone and had the baby herself.

Keefe clicked his tongue, looking back at Sophie in wonder. "You never give up, do you?"

It was meant as a compliment, and Sophie, for the first time in years, could see part of his charm returning. His lips had begun to quirk with that familiar smirk and his ice blue eyes were shining with mischief and something else she couldn't place. But it was raw and mature and meant just for her.

She couldn't hold back the extra colour that erupted on her cheeks. "I mean, I couldn't exactly reverse time and stop the labor, so, I really had no choice in the matter."

They all had to laugh at that, chests vibrating and lips stretching into glorious smiles that hadn't been used in awhile.

And Sophie knew everything was going to be just fine.


	8. Chapter 7

**a/n: i'm so happy i've picked up this story again**

 **\--**

SOPHIE FELT SOMETHING TOUCHING HER. It was dark, sound was muffled, and she felt paralyzed. Why couldn't she move? Why couldn't she open her eyes?

 _Wake up, wake up, wake up_ , she begged herself. _I'm sleeping, I know it. Wake up._

There was something snaking around her waist, rubbing a circle on the sensitive flesh.

She was waiting for the stinging pain, waiting to be stabbed or something terrible.

 _Wake up_ , she begged herself. _Please wake up!_

"Sophie?"

Sophie jolted awake, sucking in a sharp breath and gripping the thing on her waist. Someone behind her made an uncomfortable hiss as she squeezed hard, her fingers meeting the wrist of something. No, someone.

Everything flooded back.

"Sophie, it's me. You're awake. You're safe."

Sophie groaned, letting go off his wrist and laying her head back down on the pillow. She looked at Keefe who was laying in front of her, stilling as she waited to see if she'd woken him up with her kicking. Once his breathing slowed back down to a peaceful, steady beat, she blew out her own breath.

She maneuvered her way around, turning over to her other side to face Fitz. _Sorry_ , she whispered into his mind.

 _It's fine._

 _I woke you up_ , she argued. _Again_.

Why they thought it was best to put all three of them in a bed together, Sophie would never understand. She'd tried to fight them, tried to say that she would be just fine sleeping on the floor - but then Iris and her had fallen asleep on the bed and people had clearly been moved around.

The first time she'd woken up in the night, surrounded by two bodies, her arms vacant of her baby, she'd totally freaked on both Fitz and Keefe. As it had turned out, Iris had woken up much before her and had decided to go climb outside with her dad.

Sophie personally had no issues sleeping between the two. They weren't doing anything. They both knew she was already in a relationship. And besides, all of that. . . _Stuff_ had been years ago.

They'd put all of it behind them.

Still, no matter how much she reminded herself of that, her stomach still felt weird.

 _Sophie_ , Fitz called, catching her attention. _Let's go on a quick walk, okay?_

 _What_? she asked, furrowing her eyebrows.

 _Well, unless you'd like to try sleeping again. It's just. . . It's not been the best night for you._

She swallowed. Even though Fitz was right, she wasn't going to agree. That was every night. But. . .

 _Okay. We can go up to my floor. I need something from my room, anyway_.

Fitz nodded. He scanned the other bodies in the room, even taking the time to check out in the balcony. When he gave the all clear, he carefully maneuvered himself off the bed, making sure not to make any creaking sounds. He turned, holding out his hand to Sophie.

Sophie took his outstretched hand, allowing him to tug her up and off the bed. Sophie winced when she moved a little to fast at one point, turning to make sure she hadn't disturbed Keefe.

She released the breath she'd been holding when no one stirred in the humid night air, turning and giving a nod to Fitz. She padded forward, Fitz in tow as she cautiously turned the doorknob, sneaking out into the hallway and closing the door behind her.

Once outside Sophie looked at Fitz, actually managing a light giggle at the look on his face. "What is it?"

He shrugged. "Surprised we got out without waking anybody. You were stomping around like a sasquatch."

Sophie rolled her amber eyes and it was Fitz's turn to laugh. He gestured forward. "Well, lead the way."

And Sophie did. They spun up the staircase, walking up a few flights of stairs before finally reaching the door to her level. She pushed open the metal door, walking down the carpeted hallway, eliciting soft padding sounds that reverberated around the corridor. She got to the correct number and stopped in front of the door, pulling out her room key and unlocking the door with a soft click. She cocked her head and gestured to Fitz to walk inside.

He followed her in, closing the door behind her delicately, and she managed another smile.

Fuck, it felt good to smile.

Fitz shoved his hands in his pockets, walking around the dimly lit room as Sophie started rummaging through her things. The only light in the room was coming from the moon, streaming in through the open windows. He squinted his eyes, noticing some sliding doors on the other side of the room.

Sophie kept rummaging as Fitz walked over, sliding open the glass door, letting the steamy room fill with a gust of the night breeze. Sophie was actually relieved he had done that - she was beginning to sweat.

He stepped out onto the balcony, looking out over the city, and Sophie finally came across the two scattered items she'd been trying to find.

She blew out a breath, tugging the cloak over her body, not caring that she was already hot. Next she hugged the familiar toy to her chest, holding her breath and walking outside.

Fitz was leaning against the railing, so Sophie came and shadowed him, peering out to try and see what his eye had caught.

Instead Fitz turned to look at, lips cracking a smile. "Is that Ella?"

"What, thought I got rid of her?" she teased, shaking her head. "You're unbelievable."

Fitz smiled wider at that, but it quickly faded as he noticed the cloak hanging around her shoulders. "Is that a Neverseen cloak?"

Sophie's eyes flickered down to the white eye symbol blazoned on the shoulder. She swallowed thickly, bobbing her head. "It's Keefe's old one. From that day in Mr. Forkle's – Magnate Leo's – office. In the glass pyramid?"

Fitz nodded, the memory rushing back. He was probably reliving it, seen as Sophie had shared it with him. "You kept it?"

"I kept everything any of you gave me," Sophie whispered, tugging it tighter around herself. "It helps me sleep."

Laughter from an alley hundreds of feet below them caught their attention. They both peered over the edge, seeing lights and faint forms of elves.

The conversation cut off after that, the two not sure what needed to be said. It was clear that Fitz was crawling to ask her another question, but it gave Sophie a headache just thinking about having to answer anything.

She knew he deserved her answers — they all did.

But keeping Tam and Linh's entire existence out of their heads was hard enough on its own. Keeping her answers straight, accurate, and to the point was another burden.

"So. . . Why Liz? And Libby?"

Sophie looked over to him, part of her wondering why that was the thing that he was itching to ask her about. She cleared her throat. "Well. . . You guys were gone. And when the disease started killing everybody, I thought it was in your cities, too."

Fitz frowned, hearing the strain in her voice.

Her voice dropped. "I didn't want to be known as Sophie Foster. I didn't want to take that part of me with me, if it meant I didn't get to bring you along." She glanced over at him nervously, and when he gave her some look, she fought off her blush. "All of you, I mean."

The conversation tapered off there. They basked in the still air, wishing there was something there - a breeze, even. It was like the world had decided to hold its breath, though, too.

Fitz seemed to understand that to fill the gap of silence, it probably wasn't best to bring up things like the plague, no matter how much he was itching to get more answers. Sophie didn't need to be given any more reasons to be anxious. That was why she was up, after all. She was hopelessly and utterly restless.

"So. . . How. . . was carrying her? To full term?" Fitz asked quietly. Secretly, he'd actually been aching to ask that question to her. He was curious how it had all gone for her and how her body had handled it.

But he also didn't want it to come off as if he saw her as some fancy toy.

Sophie looked over to him, though, eyebrows lightly lifted in amusement. It was as if she hadn't expected the question. The corners of her plush lips twitched in the tiniest movement he'd ever seen before she turned back to face the canopy of night. "Pregnancy is hard," she admitted, chuckling. "There's no need to sugarcoat it - it looks so much easier in the media. It's not even just the physical aspect that's tough, though - it's also the mental and emotional. I cried so much, all the time. And then I'd be really happy over something so small. And I was always struggling with doubting myself. I didn't think I could raise her well."

The hint of her smile faded at that and her face deepened with a cherry colour. "Not that I've. . . Done too well, in that area."

"What?" Fitz asked incredulously, looking over at her in shock. His eyebrows had shot up and he looked genuinely confused.

Sophie flushed darker than she thought possible, swallowing. "You don't. . ." She shook her blonde head, sighing as she briefly closed her eyes. Her eyes fluttered open again, very aware that Fitz' eyes were staying trained on her. She could see him out of the corner of her eye, so she kept her eyes forward on the buildings and sky. "You don't have to do that," she whispered.

"Do what?"

"That," she repeated. "Act like you don't understand. I. . . I get it. And I fully admit it. I'm. . . A fucking awful mother."

"What?" Fitz repeated, incredulously. "No, Sophie, _no_."

He noticed the way she tensed at her name, and he expected her to snap at him for it, but when she didn't mention anything of it, he had to admit it made him relax more. "You're a _wonderful_ mother," Fitz promised.

"I'm never there. I leave her with White and Ed whenever I get the chance. I only see her once a week, if at all." She shook her head, anger flashing in her eyes as she stared out at the sky. "I look like _this_ , I talk like. . . I don't even fucking know. I act like I know shit, like I run things, but I don't even know my own name. No one knows my own name."

Fitz swallowed.

"What is it?" Sophie asked after Fitz had gone silent for a spell, again.

"Well, you. . . have a kid," Fitz blew out shakily, running a hand down his face.

Sophie nodded, holding back her laugh. Even though they had just been talking about it, Fitz seemed to be a little bit behind in following. "You guys appear to enjoy repeating that."

"I just. . . I just can't really get over that. You're - we're - so young and I never really imagined that I'd come back to find everything so. . . drastically different from how it was left." Her brows crunched together as she gave him a look with narrowed eyes and he clarified, after realizing that sounded bad, "I didn't mean you in particular and I wasn't trying to talk about you like property or whatever. I just meant that the situation is. . . Way more complicated than I ever could have guessed. I knew weird stuff was happening in your city, but I didn't really expect to come back and find out all of this. . .crap. It's a lot to take in, is all I'm saying."

He sighed, running a hand through his hair. He leaned a little further over the barrier, peering down at the streets below. "There's people dead, a new rebel group, a plague, my friend had a _baby_ , all while she's also running an entire city and a clinic. . ."

He glanced over at her and she caught his eyes, lazily blinking, unable to form a response. She was glad he couldn't see her face darken under the dim lighting of the sky. "Yeah," she finally whispered. It was the lamest response, but it was all she could offer to him.

In her perspective, it wasn't all that crazy. Yes, it was an awful situation that kept twisting and complicating things, but she'd lived with it now for three years. He'd just gotten thrown into the equation, so of course he was going to feel a lot more frazzled. And even overwhelmed.

Her life was just her life. Iris was just Iris. Edwardos was Edwardos. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary in her eyes, but that was because she'd had to live through every second of it. She'd developed her path and had walked it, earning the people in her life along the way.

Fitz went quiet for a spell, staring out at the glittering city landscape ahead of them. She could hear the sounds of shouts from below, faint and muffled by the steady breeze lifting her stray strands of hair. But she could also hear his breathing. It sounded warm and steady, and it almost calmed her. It was always there, a persistent background thrum in the crazy beehive of a city, reminding her that she had an ally. A Cognate, even.

A friend.

Her eyelids lazily fluttered, drooping more and more as the seconds ticked by. The ominous drowsiness of sleep deprivation was clearly growling, ready to drag her under for a few hours of rest. But she propped her chin up with her hand, leaning her elbow on the railing as she peeked out of the corner of her eye at Fitz.

She hadn't taken the time to notice before, caught up in the heat of the moment, but now that the buzz had died down, the city was (mostly) quiet and drowsy, and the summer air was warming her skin just right under the cool blanket of the night sky. . .

He was fucking entrancing. All her friends always managed to blow her away when she took the time to study them.

Over the years she'd been away, he'd grown at least two more inches, putting a larger (and more unnecessary) gap between their height differences. His jawline was more defined, his cheekbones were softly curved so that they were more subtle, but definitely there. His eyelashes were surprisingly pretty long and full, and his mouth was-

She flushed as he swallowed abruptly, his Adam's apple bobbing. Maybe she was going too far. Shit. She really had to get control of herself.

She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, sighing. "Are you tired?"

He looked over to her, shrugging. "Kind of. You ready to head back?"

Sophie rocked on the balls of her feet, biting her lower lip as she exhaled through her nose, squaring her shoulders. "Honestly? I. . . Don't want to go back to sleep. And even if I did, there's a chance I wouldn't be able to."

Fitz didn't have to ask her the reason why - he knew the answers to both. Hell, that was how they'd gotten here in the first place. "Nightmares," he offered gently.

Sophie nodded solemnly, triggering a deep breath from Fitz. "Well. . . I could try something, if you'd let me," he proposed. "And I'm sure Keefe would help, too."

Sophie looked over at him, eyebrows knit in light confusion. It stayed that way for a second before it registered in her brain what he was most likely offering. "No," she said firmly, shaking her head. It wasn't that she didn't trust them - she really did. All they would be doing was having Fitz monitor her dreams, just like they'd done back when she had her echo, while Keefe would most likely send his little blue breezes into her head, if Fitz warned him her dreams were beginning to shift. But. . . "You'd both have to stay up for that."

"I've slept for a few hours - I'm fine. And you know Keefe would say the exact same. You on the other hand, have barely slept at all."

Sophie held back her pout. "And how do you know that?" she snapped back, immediately regretting the words. She knew very well that probably everyone in that room was aware she'd been restless for practically the entire night, save for the five minute 'nap' she had got in there, where she'd been plagued with nightmares.

Fitz arched an eyebrow at her. He knew she was aware with the answer already, but he decided to go ahead and say it anyway. "You were kicking - a lot - whenever you actually got to sleep. And clutching your fists, and. . ." He swallowed, looking away. "Whimpering, almost."

He seemed extremely saddened at the statement, but Sophie felt more than a little mortified. She knew that was glossing over it.

Deep down, she knew she'd woke up at least once that night and had started crying. The memory was fuzzy, though, for some reason.

She'd woken up in a start, kicking off the covers and she'd brought her hands to her face, beginning to sob as quiet as she possibly could. But the ruckus she'd caused and her jolting limbs had awoken both Keefe and Fitz, who had instantly turned and attempted to comfort her. She could remember being whispered to, her hands being held, the covers being wrapped around her, blue breezes, happy memories drifting through her subconsciousness. . . Someone cradling her body from behind, and another facing her, brushing the hair out of her face and whispering to her. . .

Fitz's voice continuing his argument brought her back to the present. "Besides that, when you were awake for half the time, you kept tossing and turning."

She cleared her throat, still stuck on the fact that she might have actually gotten a little bit of sleep in there, without realizing it. All thanks to them.

Still, she was going to hold her ground - or be stubborn. Whatever she was going for. "I want you two to sleep," she said.

"And we'd like the same for you," he countered back, eliciting a groan of frustration from Sophie.

Fitz laughed, his pearl teeth shining in the night. "Just let us help you out, this once? You need your sleep, whether you think so or not."

". . .Fine," she agreed, after all her arguments had deflated in her head.

"Great," Fitz said, smiling. He pushed himself up off the railing, straightening as he outstretched a hand for Sophie. A lump caught in her throat for some reason and she reached out, lacing their fingers together. It felt so right in that moment, the feel of their intertwined hands, their rings clacking and rubbing together, that she didn't have the energy to fight him on it.

She let him lead her back to the room with the others, she let Fitz wake up Keefe and ask him to assist, and she let them lull her to a sleep without dreams, without nightmares. . .

Just peace.


	9. Chapter 8

WHEN SOPHIE AWOKE to light streaming in through the windows and muffled chatter, the first thing she did was grasp the sheet in fists in a panic. She sucked in a sharp breath, eyes fluttering open in terror. She was alarmed when she didn't feel anything anymore — the blue breezes had stopped, and the hand rubbing circles on her arm was gone.

No one was in the bed with her anymore.

"Where—" She abruptly sat up, fists still clenched in the sheets as she raked her wild eyes across the room.

Keefe came around the corner first. "Hey," he soothed. "Hey, its fine." He rushed over to her side of the bed.

She focused on breathing. The fear forcing Sophie's chest to tighten was lightening lazily, taking its dear time to simmer away as her surroundings came back to mind. As the memories of last night shifted back into place again.

Keefe grabbed her hand, which still was bare of any gloves, sending a couple more blue breezes into her head.

Biana came around the corner, watching with twiddling thumbs to see how Sophie was fairing. She clearly didn't want to overwhelm her.

Once her heartbeat was out of her throat, she asked, "Where's Iris? Dex? Ed? Fitz?" Her voice was raspier than she would have thought it could be.

She swallowed, trying to clear the leftover affects of sleep, and Keefe sat down next to her. "In another suite near us. Double room. It has a kitchen."

Sophie nodded, rubbing the bleariness from her eyes. "Oh, yeah. I know where that is." She fought off a yawn. "This floor is mostly empty. We keep that room vacant so the people up here can use it."

Keefe nodded. The blue breezes dissolved away once he sensed her mood had shifted to neutral territory, but when he tried to sleep his hand away, Sophie held on tight. "Sorry," she muttered when she noticed his surprise. "I just. . ."

"It's okay, Foster," he assured, a soft smile on his mouth that sent thousands of things fluttering her stomach.

It clicked that he could feel that when his eyebrows twitched after glancing down at their interlocked hands and Sophie shyly tugged away, standing up. She brushed her clothes off, realizing she had not only slept in her pajamas, but that she was still wearing his old Neverseen cloak.

"It helps me sleep," she rushed to explain as he stood up beside her, clearly eyeing it. Keefe nodded calmly at her, but his face was blooming red.

He reached into his pocket, grabbing out her two silky gloves. "Here," he said after clearing his throat.

Sophie took them, slipping them onto her hands while glancing up at him every so often. She dropped the cloak off her shoulders, hastily folding it and laying it at the head of the bed.

Biana rolled her eyes, clearly finding then tension humorous as she came over and stepped in between the two. She grabbed Sophie's hand, smiling. "Don't worry, I'll save you."

"From what?" Keefe whined as Biana started dragging Sophie away.

"You and your horrible social skills," Biana replied casually, exiting the room and walking out into the hallway. Sophie sped up to walk beside her, glad when Biana didn't drop their intertwined hands.

Keefe locked up the hotel room, jogging up behind them to catch up. They reached the suite and Keefe waved they key in front of them as he slipped ahead, unlocking the door with a soft click. He pushed it open, a wave of chatter humming into the hallway.

They all walked inside, Keefe making sure to shut the door behind them. The scent of buttered toast and jam wafted through the air, as well as the warm, welcoming scent of egg yolks and whites.

Iris, who had been on her knees sitting up against a low coffee table, jumped up. "Mommy!"

Iris ran over, excitedly hopping up right as Sophie lifted her arms to pick her up. Sophie propped Iris up on her hip, lips twinging into a smile at the grin Iris had settled on her face.

"You forgot Ella," Iris informed, waving the stuffed elephant in her face. "She was on the floor by your bed."

"I must've dropped her," Sophie concluded, kissing Iris on the temple. "Thanks for keeping her safe for me, hun."

Iris giggled at the compliment, nodding and giving a quick hug to her mom before signaling to be set down. Sophie complied, lowering Iris to the floor, allowing Ella to be placed in her arms as Iris scurried back to the coffee table.

Sophie turned to see Edwardos glancing back at her while working at the stove. He picked at an egg with his spatula before grinning over at her. "Morning," he greeted gently, causing a tingle to run up Sophie's spine.

"Hi," she replied gently, cheeks flushing with heat.

She watched as Fitz plunked two more pieces of bread into the toaster, slathering butter and strawberry jam onto two waiting pieces on a plate. Dex, meanwhile, had moved next to Iris and was asking her simple questions to keep hold of her attention — keep her occupied.

With a sigh, Keefe moved forward, approaching Dex and Iris. Sophie smiled wider as Iris invited him enthusiastically, patting the floor beside her in a motion to have him sit beside her. Biana gave a light tap to Sophie's back before also departing from her side, moving and helping her brother with plating the toast.

Sophie sighed, shoving her hands in her pocket, wondering how much more weird her life could get. It felt off, in a way, having both sides of her world — her future and her past — sitting together in the same room. Making breakfast together, nonetheless.

But it also felt. . . Right. She felt whole and it seemed as if the pieces of the puzzle were clicking into place.

With her own sigh she removed her hands from her pockets, striding forward and meeting Ed at his side. He side-glanced her, the corners of his mouth quirking up. "What is it?" he asked curiously.

"What do you mean?" she shot back, noticing the twitching of his mouth.

"You look grumpy," he admitted with a tiny laugh.

Sophie rolled her eyes, making him laugh again. "I'm tired."

"Mm." He leaned over, kissing her temple. "You want eggs?"

"Where'd you get eggs from?"

"Does it _matter_. . ?"

Edwardos chuckled as Sophie shoved him playfully. "Well I was asking because I didn't think we had any eggs, doofus. _But_ ," she paused, "yes, I would like some."

Edwardos smiled at her and she mirrored him, beaming.

Sophie turned when she heard Iris giggling, watching the spectacle of her laughing between Dex and Keefe. It was more adorable and softening than she could have pictured, and it made her heart melt.

She could actually imagine this as her life. Them meeting for breakfast together every now and then, Iris playing with Izzy and Keefe and Dex and anyone else. Edwardos holding her hand while she chatted with her friends. She could picture it all so perfectly.

Her eyes drifted to Fitz, who was a few feet away, working with Biana at the counter. He was lost in conversation with her, making a stack of buttered toast.

Sophie's heart banged against her rib cage rather erratically, and she tried slowing her breathing to keep her heartbeat contained. But Fitz peered her way for a brief second and Sophie nearly sucked in a breath, whipping her head the opposite direction.

Trying to play her cool, she nonchalantly turned around, looking over in Iris' direction, where she unwillingly caught Keefe's eyes. He wasn't looking at her — probably wasn't even aware she was looking at him — but her breath hitched.

Fuck, fuck no.

 _It's all in your head_ , she tried to tell herself. _This is all just stupid in-the-moment jitters. These aren't feelings._

Sophie squeaked when the door flung open, grabbing on to Edwardos' arm. White stood in the doorway, breathing heavily like he'd run up the flights of stairs to get there. "Miss," he addressed, looking to Sophie. "Apologies. I couldn't find you in either of your rooms."

"It's fine," Sophie assured, loosening her death grip on Ed's arm. "What happened?"

White swallowed, his Adam's apple bobbing with the jerky movement. "The Uptowners," he explained. "They've requested a meeting with you."

\--

 **a/n: it only gets spicy from here on out, my dudes**


	10. Chapter 9

SOPHIE COULD ONLY BLINK at first. Her mouth agape, she tried to form the words to properly And respond. She was aware everyone was watching her, waiting for her reaction, but she wasn't sure what she was supposed to say. Eventually she shook her head, clearing her throat and clamping her jaw shut as she came out of her daze. "Okay," she started. "Um, when?"

"In twenty minutes."

Sophie swiftly nodded, turning and pointing at Iris. "You know what, that means, bugaboo."

Iris had been chewing her her toast at the table when Sophie had called out to her. Sophie was surprised to see her eating it, though. In her false alarm haze a few minutes prior - when she had definitely not been thinking about two certain boys in her life - someone must have handed the plate to Iris.

Iris finished chewing and swallowed, already sporting her best pouting face. "Work _again_?" she whined.

"Work everyday, baby," Sophie agreed, walking over and scooping Iris into her arms. Iris continued munching on the toast as her mom reminded, "You know this by now."

Sophie hadn't meant for it to happen, but her own sadness seeped into the end of her sentence. Everyone around her was already scurrying, cleaning up the utensils and kitchen space, shoving the food haphazardly into their mouths and rushing to get out as fast as they could.

"Doesn't mean that it doesn't suck," Iris mumbled, her mouth full of buttery toast. Sophie waited for her to finish before she planted a kiss on her forehead, putting Ella in the protective sanctuary of her tiny arms. "Keep her safe for me?"

Iris nodded.

Edwardos started flicking switches and buttons, turning off the toaster and stove before he approached Sophie. "You want me to take her back?"

"I think I've got time for a quick goodbye," Sophie argued, looking at Iris. "Right?"

Iris bobbed her head excitedly and Sophie's lips pulled into a bright smile. "Alright, then let's get to it, carebear."

They packed everything up, White holding open the door for them as they ushered themselves out of the room. Sophie was more than a little rushed, getting to the hotel room before everyone else. She unlocked and pushed open the door, setting Iris down almost immediately.

Iris whined, but they walked inside together, Sophie settling on quickly folding back in the futon so that it was a couch again, instead of a folded-out mattress. By the time she had moved the pillows off of it and was pushing it back inside, the door opened and everyone began filing in again. All except for White, who stayed at the door again.

Iris hopped up on the couch the moment Sophie had it set back in place, and Sophie seemed to be in tunnel vision mode, moving right away to fixing the bed. Edwardos grabbed her arm before she could reach the mess, though, softly mumbling to assure her that he had it under control. "You have to go change, anyway," he added when she tried to argue.

With a dejected sigh, Sophie gave up, nodding as she turned around to look at Iris one last time. "Dad is gonna stay with you today," she explained, an unexpected lump forming in her throat as she bent over, enveloping her daughter in a hug. She didn't know why this goodbye felt so emotional. She'd said goodbye thousands of times - it's not like it was permanent.

"Okay," Iris agreed calmly. Sophie lifted her hand, tucking a stray strand of hair out of her face, beaming down proudly at her. She didn't understand how she'd grown up to be so brave.

Sophie pulled away after lingering for longer than necessary, her voice thick. She glanced back at Edwardos, but her words were meant for both him and her daughter. "Be safe. Have fun. _Don't_ set the place on fire."

Iris giggled at the last part, a few people in the room cracking a smile.

"Will do," Edwardos assured as Sophie began walking out. When she passed her friends she forced a smile, waving her hand and ushering them forward.

The moment they got out of the room, Sophie doubled her pace, White running to keep up beside her. "I'll be waiting at the entrance?" he offered, their paths diverging when they reached the one staircase that lead up and the one the lead down.

"Usual group," Sophie ordered, taking the heavy metal door and tugging it open. She stared at the staircase, admitting, "I don't want too many people in case it turns out they have other motives."

White smiled sadly. "I have no doubt they do." His eyes nervously flickered back to her friends. "Will they be joining us?"

Sophie turned her head to look at her friends, eyes scanning them up and down. She hesitated for a fraction of a second before she nodded. "If they want to, of course," she added quickly." I just. . ." She cleared her throat, looking away from them as she confessed, "I tend to work better when they're around."

Even though the sentence held some warmth to it, White was all business as he dipped his chin and started towards his own staircase. "Of course. Fifteen minutes."

With the reminder of the time limit as White started walking away, his footsteps echoeing behind him, Sophie muttered a few selective curse words, beginning to race up the flight of stairs. Knowing her friends were following her, she started saving time by beginning her explanation. "I can tell you're all really - or mildly - confused, so here's the basic gist of it: this group? They hardly ever get in contact with us unless it's to threaten or demand. So to spring this supposed meeting on us is really. . ."

"Sketchy?" Keefe offered from somewhere behind her.

"Sketchy in the least," Sophie clarified, only half agreeing with the choice of word.

"Should we bring any weapons?"

The question caused Sophie to screech to a halt halfway up the last flight of stairs. Someone nearly crashed into her back by the way she heard shoes squeak directly behind her and felt someone's breath tickle the hairs on her neck for a millisecond. Then they stepped back in the silence, taking their body heat with them.

Her back prickled with goosebumps. She hoped Keefe couldn't feel her nerves crawling. She prayed he didn't feel the twinge of guilt and shame at what they were probably going to get to witness.

"We. . . don't need weapons," she assured softly. Her voice was so hushed that there was almost some haunting ring to it.

Sophie seemed to snap back out of it, then, pressing forward in a battle-ready manner. She stormed the rest of her way to her room without another word.

\--

IT TOOK SOPHIE'S FRIENDS a second to realize that it was just her when they saw her in broad daylight. She'd altered her appearance in the slightest way possible, but it still felt wrong to see her with the tiny detail erased from her features.

Sophie could feel the way their skin prickled every time she glanced at them with her now cloudy-blue eyes as she began strategizing the way to approach the situation with White. She'd put some eyedrops in before she had left her room, thinking it would help aid her in her disguise. She also assumed that her friends wouldn't be so frazzled with it, given as that's how she'd had her eyes the first time they'd met at the city gate.

White could tell she was a little distracted by it, as she kept frowning every time they'd abashedly turn or rip their eyes away every time she'd lock gazes with one of them. Mildly annoyed and secretly hurt, she saved them the trouble by clearing her throat, tying up her hair in a sloppy ponytail, and whipping the hood of her long cloak over her head.

She raised her voice, making sure everyone could hear her as she spoke with White about the outline of the plan. It was simple, really.

No half-thought out deals. No violence unless they were attacked first and left without options. No trades that they couldn't take back.

"What if this is about an alliance?" White offered, his accent clicking a bit as he stumbled over the words himself.

Sophie swallowed. "That shouldn't be it," she said. "After all, we're the only two pieces of the puzzle. They wouldn't need an alliance unless we were fighting against something together."

She nearly cut herself off at the end, not even wanting to feed into imagination. She knew it wasn't true, wasn't even barely possible by an standard, but her brain still took the irrational fear and drilled it into every waking thought.

White checked the time again after that, and then they were moving to the presumed location. Sophie was in the front of the group, still mumbling to White about what they were going to negotiate - though, she'd switch to her deeper voice. Solon's voice, just in case anyone was listening.

Her friends were kept in the center, right in two behind her, surrounded by a few other selective elves. They were all in simple attire, their capes kept to a minimum length. Their hands were at their sides, eyes squinting in the sunlight as they scanned every inch of the area around them, including occasionally peering up at the buildings. They carried no weapons, just as Sophie had said, but their shoulders and posture were stiff and rigid as they observed the space around them, as if they were expecting a sort of ambush to occur at any second.

Sophie was again hoping Keefe wasn't reading too much into her own nausea coming off of her in waves. She didn't want to spook her friends. "Could you trace the signal of the message they sent?" Sophie-as-Solon muttered to White, leaning in close to ensure no one else would hear.

"Blank," White whispered back. "It only led us so far. It was like a rabbit trail. Kept going to different places until it ended."

"Diversion?" Sophie guessed.

White shrugged. "Perhaps. But from what? Nothing was stolen. No one broke in to the office as we were trying to trace it back. What would they have to take away from us with that?"

"Our time," Sophie answered, trying to keep her replies gentle, even though she felt like snapping for no certain reason. "Time is something we can never get back. And if we spend too much on the wrong thing, we overlook something else. Anything else."

She'd spent too long in the game to even think otherwise. She knew this was how it had always worked and would always work. No matter how many different twisted organizations she was going to face in her odd number of years on Earth, she knew that her time would always be a gamble.

And so far she'd lost so many of those gambles.

White opened his mouth to say more as they rounded a corner, but he locked his jaw when his dark eyes set on the alley ahead. It was unsurprisingly narrow, with just enough room for them to fan out only a few feet. It didn't end, though, like they had thought - the fence had been cut through, a huge gap creating the perfect escape route. For the other team, of course. If something happened and they were surrounded, they were practically screwed.

White's eyes narrowed as they entered, approaching the multitude of figures casually waiting them at the fence.

The one in the middle — a man — smiled as he laid eyes on the approaching group. And it only widened when he noticed Sophie.


	11. Chapter 10

"COMMANDER," A MAN'S VOICE boomed. The one figure in the middle — clearly the leader of the small band of Uptowners — lifted his hands and grinned.

White looked at Sophie for a second and she caught his eye. She didn't return any gesture or words of encouragement, but simply trained her eyes back forward. Their group walked forward until there was a good twenty feet in between the two groups, leaving space in case of a brawl.

"Such formalities," Sophie teased in her masked voice, some light ring to the tone. However, even though there was some playful quirk to it, it was still dripping with sarcasm. "You should just call me Solon."

"My Commander. . . It sounds as if you doubt my respect towards you," the man returned carefully, one eyebrow lifted on his forehead.

Sophie hummed in thought, soaking in the reply. "If you truly respected me, you and your daycare would keep to the boundaries we'd agreed on," she countered, letting the accusation hang in the air for a few seconds.

Electricity shot up Sophie's friend's spines. They hadn't assummed she'd jump straight to accusing them. Not in this setting, and not so early on.

She could practically feel the waves of some twisted, anxious feeling rolling off their forms from behind her.

The man's eyebrows crunched together, eyes narrowing dangerously as his cheek sunk in in the slightest, as if he was biting on it. Finally, he replied, "I'm not sure I understand, sir—"

"If you want to negotiate with me, at least stick to the boundaries we set, _sir_. You don't think I didn't notice that slip a few weeks ago? You broke into _my_ city. The _down_ town, in case you forgot where _you_ came from."

Sophie was a force to be reckoned with all in her own, but pair that with the cloaked and hooded disguise along with her deep, threatening voice she was absolutely menacing. The snappy way she'd pronounced every word sent shivers up more than a few spines.

The man pulled a tight smile. "Some people in our district aren't aware of the new boundaries yet and—"

"Bullshit," Sophie growled, stepping forward for the first time. She strode forward, ignoring the way White tried to advise her otherwise. She got a few steps away from the man, finally stopping, glaring headily at him and the elves standing in formation a few feet behind him. "Do not lie to me, or you will find I can turn this meeting very unpleasant _very_ quickly."

It was abundantly clear that Sophie was the one running it, no matter who had set up the place and time. It didn't matter that they wanted or needed something from her — she was going to make it very clear that she was the dominant force.

For once, the man's face twinged with annoyance. "If you want to hear what I'm proposing, I'd advise—"

"You don't advise me!" Sophie barked. "You stay away from my people! One of _your_ people were spotted in the common area and I will _not_ have any of my people hurt! They are under _my_ protection and if you cross the borders again, your men are _dead_."

Behind her, a few of her friends swallowed. Biana took a few cautious steps forward, leaning in to whisper to White. "Are you sure she should be talking to them so. . . boldly? She hasn't even heard what they have to say and she's threatening them," she whispered.

"Miss Foster is wise and open-minded, but she tends not to hold her tongue when it comes to the people. She takes their safety very seriously." He moved his head in a vague gesture directed towards her. "Besides that, she has good reason to give her terms before they begin. They violated the boundaries that were set up. In truth, whoever they sent over here should have been punished and put in a holding cell."

Biana looked behind her, sharing a look with the others. She hadn't been aware they'd set up borders, but even more than that. . . "She let them go? Why?"

"She ordered everyone and I to let them go back."

Biana looked over at Sophie quizzically, finding she was arguing with the man. But he was losing. Sorely. "To use it as leverage?" she guessed.

White nodded. "They didn't take anything, so she assumed it was to scout the area. We've had it under heavy watch ever since. She believed this was a diversion to get us away from the area, so she's subtly letting them know right now she's aware of the breach from a few weeks ago."

"Does she think it will make them stop before the even start?"

"It may make them nervous," White agreed, their voices barely even recognizable. They could just distinguish the words from breaths. "That is also why we have very little members with us. The rest are overlooking the site of the breach, as we speak."

Biana and White's attention lasered entirely back on Sophie as the man held up his hands innocently. He took three steps forward which was just enough to meet directly in front of Sophie.

Holding her blue gaze, he slowly bent down on one knee, dramatically dropping his head in a flourish. "Mandatory rules will be announced upon our arrival. Forgive me, Commander."

He looked back up, lips twitching in the slightest.

Sophie held back a growl, knowing he wasn't taking any of it seriously. "Forgiveness will be given when I see you fulfill your promise," she shot back, a light hiss to the edges of her words.

He rose, dusting off his knees before giving her another charming smile. "As you wish." He turned around for a brief second, glancing at his colleagues before returning to the eye contact he'd had going with Sophie. "May I now explain the importance of our meeting?"

"I wasn't aware you needed permission to speak."

He held up his hands again. "Just trying to make sure I don't offend the Commander."

"And I already told you, formalities are bullshit in this situation and you have already offended me weeks ago by allowing someone to cross the border. So, _please_ ; continue and _try_ not to drive my patience."

He smirked as wide as he could, but his mock peaceful demeanor was easily seen through by the light sheen of sweat building on his forehead.

"Nervous?" Sophie asked with a click of her tongue.

He cleared his throat, sharp eyes shooting a look down at her folded hands before nervously meeting her eyes again. Then, there was that smile again. "Hardly."

She barely had time to raise an eyebrow before he swooped forward, crushing the distance between them. The toes of their boots crashed together as he wrenched her wrist into his grasp, squeezing in a painful, vise-like grip.

Even though Sophie barely flinched, there were a few sharp breaths from behind and then White shouting out orders as people shuffled into different positions. The man leaned in close to Sophie's face, hot breath tickling her cheeks.

"You're coming with me," he growled. "Or your daughter doesn't make it through the night."

Sophie looked at the plethora of melders pointed towards her. _Skipping right to it, then,_ Sophiethought _. Alright. Play dumb._

Sophie leaned back from him lightly, so she could meet his eyes. She rose an eyebrow, airy surprise lacing her breathy whisper. "Would you like to repeat that?"

In one swift motion he ripped off her glove, eyes wide as he gripped her wrists and gazed down at the Cognate ring on her thumb, and the star-shaped scar blazoned on the back of her palm.

He ran a thumb over her skin as several Uptowners moved into position, surrounding Sophie and the group. His thumb meandered over her ring, eyeing the S.E.F engraved in the material.

"Well by golly, it _is_ her."

He wickedly smiled up to her.

Sophie elegantly arched an eyebrow, not even a pinch of anxiety wafting off her lithe form. She barely even flinched or moved her eyes as he reached up and threw back her hood, her blonde hair cascading around her shoulders after a rather harsh tug ripped out her ponytail.

 _He wanted me. He wants me._

"You really thought that would do it, didn't you?" he sneered proudly, smiling. "A hood and some eyedrops?"

 _He wants Sophie Foster. Why does he want Sophie Foster?_

Sophie leaned in closer towards his face, leaving mere centimeters between their skin. Something about the cool, calculated way she was moving was unnerving. "If you know who I truly am. . ."

She peered out of the corners of her eyes, looking at the Uptowners surrounding the group. She settled her eyes back with the man's, narrowing hers dangerously.

"Then I'd advise you not to do this," she finished, a low, warning hiss evident in her voice.

He barked out a laugh. "You can't scare me off that easily. _You're_ surrounded."

"And perhaps that's all I needed you to do," Sophie countered, whispering huskily in his ear, "was to get closer."

Their eyes locked for a brief moment as the tiniest whiff of a smirk grazed over Sophie's lips for a second. Then it was gone, gaze growing hard as stone. "This meeting is over."

A teasing glint shone in her eyes as the blue began to fade slowly, her eye drops finally waring off and melting away to reveal the glowing amber underneath. "Goodbye."

The soldiers barely had time to even register the word before Sophie had jerked her neck to the right in a swift-yet-faulty motion. A sickening crack of bones echoed throughout the area as ten bodies dropped to the ground, limp.

Sophie merely sighed in an exhausted but bored manner, bending down and taking her glove and hair tie out of the man's numb hand.

After tugging the glove over her hand yet again and tying her hair up in a quick ponytail, she nonchalantly turned back to the three Uptowners left standing. Their melders, shaky in their raised hands, slowly began to drop.

Sophie nodded as they threw them to the ground. "Wise choice. I can't say as much for your friends."

Further observation of the dead revealed their necks were all twisted sharply at an odd and sickening angle.

"Now that I've demonstrated what happens if you so choose to threaten me and my family, I'd appreciate it if you'd send a message back to your leader." Sophie waited until they all nodded, complying with her terms. She smiled gratefully. "Wonderful."

Her smile dropped to the ground in an instant, eyes glaring daggers. "Fuck off — or I kill all of you."

She made a quick motion with her head, jabbing her chin in a vague direction, signaling for them to get lost. At first they all winced, hands instinctually shooting up in some weak attempt to protect their necks. When it dawned on them that she hadn't done what they'd assumed, they turned, scurrying away.

With a modest hum in her throat, Sophie whirled back around, her eyes meeting the wide ones of her friends. Light humiliation stung her — she'd forgotten they'd been there to witness all of it. And the way their eyes were filled with terror as they looked at her. . .

Mouth agape, Keefe tried to form words. "You. . ."

Sophie followed Dex's periwinkle eyes to the snapped necks of the bodies.

"Telekinesis," Sophie agreed, bobbing her head. She swallowed, folding her hands over herself as they dangled. She was unsure of how to handle this.

But this. . . This was _her_ now.

And they just would have to get used to it.

She turned to White, mind already moving to her bigger problems. She squared her shoulders. "I'll need eyes on the Uptown. I'd like you to send a group up there in less than five minutes. Make it _quick_ — carry light ammo and try to follow those three survivors back if you can. No matter what you end up finding, however, do not engage unless absolutely necessary. Have the group back to me an hour after sundown at the _latest_.

And before that I need some assistance in, well, cleanup."

She gestured to the graveyard she'd made.

White dipped his chin, barking orders at the surrounding soldiers. Her segregated them off into different sections, telling them where and what to do, all according to how Sophie had outlined it.

When White turned back to her in the flurry of elves moving about, carrying away the bodies, she continued, "And if it isn't any trouble. . . I'd like you stationed around Iris and Ed tonight."

White caught the nervous glint in her eye, making it clear her mind was on her family more than anything. "Of course," White assured softly, nodding.

"Be safe," she said.

"I always am."

And Sophie smiled, finally gathering up some courage in her guts to face her friends again. Thankfully, the fear had almost all but vanished from their eyes. "Let's get back to the hotel."


End file.
